Autohunter
by IwouldifIcould
Summary: It's not like she doesn't know being a hero is hard. It really is. It's not like she doesn't know heroes sustain injuries. They mostly do. It's that when he's risking his life, she doesn't know what TO do. It's ridiculous how much she has to pick up after him! ...Hey, pick up your damn arm! (Genos x OC)
1. Discoveries Both Bad and Good

" _You sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve," - J. K. Rowling_

* * *

It's always strange to wake up one day and just say to yourself, "Oh yeah, his arms were torn off again, looks like it'll be another few hours to reattach the nerves and reconnect the actual arms. Maybe I should add more plating to the hydraulics and pad the biochemical structure of the face plate?"

Of course, I had to get used to this almost every day after the guy left, but it was still so appalling to know how destructive he could get about his own body. Granted, it was almost completely destroyed when it was first found after the wake of a rampaging cyborg-but still! He had no self preservation skills whatsoever.

Aside from troublesome cyborgs, I decided to have a normal morning, the kind where you just relax out of bed. Eat cereal, watch TV, check emails, that sort of thing. There were no calls on my phone, which could only mean one thing. I got to stay home for once! I practically squealed with giddiness. It had been such a long time since I last had a full day to myself in my snug little apartment, I couldn't even remember the last time I didn't pull an all nighter in the shop just to repair an arm!

I stretched out my legs and toes to revel in what luck I was in for once in what felt like years. It was absolutely divine!

I picked up my phone again, just to check whether I had gotten a notification again or not. Peeking at the home screen for only a second, my hopes and dreams for the day were shattered. A text was on screen and I could already feel my broken happiness turn into a growing agitation.

" _Left arm missing, torso torn, face plate damaged, gouged endoskull, almost self destructed,"_ the list went on and on from there, listing more injuries, parts that needed replacing, and parts that needed to be made from scratch, _again_.

I groaned aggravatedly. Did this damn guy know nothing about self preservation?! I slammed my phone on the table for the seventeenth time the week and picked up my coat, and a briefcase filled to the brim with tools and other necessities. I walked out the door at a brisk pace. The doctor was going to be waiting for me.

Genos was seriously going to pay one day.

* * *

Ever since I was a kid, I had always loved engineering and all of its aspects. I was a pretty smart kid, and not to brag, I was called a prodigy child, able to manufacture anything with simple household items. My mom used to tell me my first accomplishment was turning my diaper into a fully functional, paper airplane.

I graduated middle school and high school at an early age and moved on to any college and university courses I could find to sate my desire to become a great engineer. Once I had completed those, I still found myself unsatisfied with how much I knew, or how little. I moved out of my parents' house to become a freelance engineer to get out into the field and just experience the working world for what it was worth.

It turns out it wasn't much.

I became completely broke and had to get a job at a café. I was utterly embarrassed and felt ridiculous. I wanted to build, I wanted to create! I didn't want to be stuck in a hole of a run down business with customers yelling at me to make their frappuccino with extra caramel and little to no milk! In my spare time, anything I could get my hands on, I fiddled with and created something new out of. My boss wasn't exactly satisfied when I turned the coffeemaker into a working double barrelled, air pressurized gun, able to shoot scalding mocha lattes. I didn't see what he had to get so worked up about, I only burned seven people! …Fine… it was fourteen. At least I wasn't fired, my boss only docked half of my pay. Which didn't exactly help me pay rent. Everything was as fine as fine could be.

And then I got a call.

It hadn't seemed strange at the time, in fact it felt completely normal. Someone was calling me for business reasons; maybe I was being assigned a different position in the workplace because they knew someone with the skills to make a coffee blaster needed to be elsewhere, maybe they had caught wind of a genius engineer and wanted her services, just maybe.

Instead, I was told my parents died.

I never knew why, I never knew how, all I knew was that they were both gone and I hadn't done a damn thing to help them. They had been staying in a small town ever since I moved out, to enjoy the scenery of the urban sprawl. They used to send me little postcards of them holding each other in front of skies so blue, and grasses so green…

I didn't have time to mourn. The only time I had was to work, and work, and work. If it wasn't in the shop, then it was a self project, and if it wasn't a self project, then it was applying for more workplaces looking for a qualified engineer or inventor.

During my weekend in which I was free from the shop, I secluded myself in my workshop, working on my self project: steam powered repulsor boots. They were prototypes. I wanted my final product to be powered by a self sustaining reactor, but I hadn't come across the proper tools or technology. If my steam powered boots flew me somewhere for a minimum of four hours, then it was deemed a successful prototype. The way they were designed was to intake the vapour in the atmosphere and heat it up in the system, thereby creating steam, but the output compared to the intake was too little.

Even so, my boots still required testing, and the immediate area of my workshop was much too small for a full scale evaluation. What better way to test them than visiting my late parents' rubble of a wiped out town?

Starting off, I was wobbly and struggled balancing myself. I admit, I also destroyed some of my more expensive equipment, and fell on my ass too many times to count. It was my first time being up in the air rather than the ground, so I allowed myself room for mistakes, trying to be as patient as I could be. It was better than blowing up at every failed attempt.

By attempt #247, I deemed myself capable enough to fly in the sky for a full length test run. By car, the time taken between my parents' town and my city was an hour and a half with traffic. Given how my boots could at least reach 150mph, it could get to the village in about less than half that time, and given how there was no air traffic that I could think of (besides planes), including a base of a three hour run, the evaluation was fully possible. I hit the switch outside of my workshop, and my evaluation began.

As I flew, I absorbed the actual feeling. There were no words to describe it. The wind blowing, the clouds floating, the _everything._ All I knew was that it felt amazing. Was this how birds felt? Did they feel the rush of being hundreds of feet off of the ground? Did they feel the surge of adrenaline that humans did? An almost silent part if my mind knew it wasn't, it just didn't want to be a killjoy. But that same killjoy was also a realist. The actual happiness I felt of being up in the air wouldn't last long, or at least not long enough.

Time slipped me by, and I neared a patch of land. The sky was darkened over it, a purple/brown hue settling. I grimaced in preparation of the sights I was about to witness.

I landed extremely shakily, managing to land incorrectly, and scratching up my hands and knees a good bit. "Shit!" I cursed, patting my stinging, red hands on my pants. I'd need to make sure they were cleaned later, but I wasn't going to leave the village so soon; I needed to see things for myself.

The stinging sensation in my knees was worse than that in my hands, with my walking agitating my scratches. Who knew what sort of thing destroyed the village? If it was some sort of poisonous mysterious being, then I really had to be cautious about what I might have subjected myself to.

I strolled around the village, the old place I grew up in. The streets and paved roads were unrecognizable, tree roots and building rubble sticking in the air. What was once so familiar to me was lost amongst all of the ruins.

There was a slight pressure underneath my boot as I walked, and I jumped, holding my fists up thinking the mysterious being might have returned. It didn't. I only stepped on a children's doll. I slowly kneeled down, and picked it up with a frown, turning it over a few times to examine it. Dried blood covered its side. A child lived here once, and how sad it was that a monster had been their final thought. No one deserved to die that way, especially not a child. Grimly, I put the doll back down to continue my search.

About half an hour in being there, I grew impatient wondering the lonely streets, and a little frightened as well. It was quiet, save for the howling wind, and the signs which were landmarks in my childhood were illegible or gone. "Haf," I muttered, placing two fingers to my earpiece, and taking out my phone, "scan for any genetic features matching mine in the immediate area."

" _Underneath artificial substances, ma'am?"_

"Yes, please."

From my phone, a large, blue translucent field came out, spanning at least fifteen kilometres of where I stood; a large enough field to find my parents' house, I estimated. It spun round me several times until it retracted into my phone curtly. Haf's voice came back onto my ear piece.

" _Of your genectics, there are two sources approximately 2.5 kilometres northeast from your current location,"_

"Thanks Haf,"

" _It is what I'm here for, ma'am."_ I followed Haf's directions diligently, who so thankfully inserted a map on my phone to guide me. I resented it slightly, reminding Haf that I had a great sense of direction even though we both knew it wasn't true.

The 2.5km which Haf gave me, didn't allow me any better of a scenic route than what I'd earlier viewed, in fact, it got worse; more blood, more crushed buildings, more…. just _more…._ There were even more personal belongings of the late citizens. There were strollers, bags, shoes, clothes…. It was a ghost town where the ghosts of these people now lived.

My heart beated faster as I steadily approached my destination. _0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1…._ All at once, everything stopped. My body began to move on its own accord, ignoring the signals my brain sent. _No, no, no, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!_ My brain begged. Nothing about me felt in control, like I was a stranger out of my own body. I felt dead to the world.

And then I saw it. I dropped to my knees as tears leaked out of my eyes. This pile of rubble was supposedly my old house. My head was held in my hands and shook it repeatedly. I knew this sort of thing was going to happen if I came back! I just wanted to scream. A thought suddenly came to me in my frustration and denial. Just because my parents' house was now rubble, didn't mean they were dead inside of it!

I ran to the ruin and started moving stone, brick and wood haphazardly until I found concrete evidence my parents were really dead. I cut my ankles multiple times with stray shards of glass lying about the stones, and I ignored them through bitter cries.

"If you're looking for survivors, you'd best save your energy," a cynical voice quipped from behind me. My head whipped around, my ears deceiving me for momentarily believing I'd heard the voice of my father. "I've already checked. No survivors whatsoever." I disappointed myself. Instead, I had found an old man with a large nose and strangely styled hair.

I scowled, looking down at the large mess I'd made of my hands, and the rest of my body. It really was for nothing then, wasn't it? Blood trailed down my legs slowly from the parts I cut further with the debris I rummaged through. "What did this?" I whispered after a long stretch of silence.

"A mad cyborg," I was surprised the old man even answered. I thought he left me to wallow in self hate.

"How does a cyborg go mad?" I wondered with heat behind my words. If cyborgs were supposed to be more advanced than humans yet still retained humanity, how did a human do all of this?

There was a pause, and the old man seemed to contemplate an explanation. "Sometimes, the electrodes wired near the body's nervous system can cause errors. It estranges the brain and causes irreversible damage. The electrodes wired near this cyborg's brain made it more aggressive and hostile. It went on a rampage. It was because of my carelessness that this happened. I'm so very sorry."

He sounded miserable, and there was nothing that could make me forgive him. He said it himself, it was his fault this village got wiped out, that my parents were _killed_. Though, what could I do to give him at least the benefit of the doubt? I never partook in the creation of a cyborg, but I couldn't imagine wiring nerves and actual wires was an easy thing to do. The entire process of creating a cyborg sounded taxing and complicated, even for my standards.

No, I really didn't have it in me to forgive him. I wanted a change in conversation immediately, it was way too dreary. "Who are you, gramps? Some sort of scientist?" At first glance, I was at least able to see a lab coat, so my assumption probably wasn't that far off.

The old man accepted the change in topic. "Yes," he said, and I imagined him nodding behind me while I rolled a piece of stone around in my hand. "My name is Doctor Kuseno,"

My eyes widened. How hadn't I recognized him before?! _The_ Doctor Kuseno was to my backside?! I gulped to myself. He was a well known scientist when I was younger, in fact he was one of my role models. "H-hey, gramps," my breathing became shaky while I turned around to face him. "You're looking for this mad cyborg, right? You might be following its path of rampage, but what if I offered my services?"

I just found myself a new job.

* * *

I screamed.

"Oh my God, what the hell did you do?!" Latching onto the cyborg's in tact arm, I slid my hand over the scratched metal to assess damage. My eyes roamed over every inch of damaged equipment. Just like what the message said on my phone, but imagining it and seeing it for real were two very different experiences. And then of course, one arm was completely missing! "These were the arms I worked on myself, how can you just-!" I gestured over how broken and destroyed they were, making distressed and angry noises. There were no words to describe how angry I really was. I settled on seething through my clenched teeth.

"Now, now, Jade. This happens often enough, there's no need to be angry." Doctor Kuseno, who was behind me, attempted to calm my ire. It wasn't working.

"But, Doctor-!" I whined.

"I'll be working on Genos's default arms, you remove any damage and shrapnel." He chuckled, waving me off. He went over to a corner of the lab to assemble the arms, just as he said. The man was too lax for his own good, but we did have a good system going, and he kept with it.

I sighed, trying to release any lingering aggravation in my system. "Alright, fine." I trailed around the table where Genos was lying down. "I'm going to need to make a full list of your injuries, so let's start with that." I muttered, making sure Genos could hear me. I started with his face plate. As I moved closer, I saw him flinch. It was barely visible, and I only caught it at the last second, but it wasn't hard to tell what he was thinking. "Look, just because I'm still pissed, doesn't mean I'm going to rip you a new one when you're like this, so why don't you actually tell me what happened while I inspect your body, and I might not rip you a new one when you're in one piece."

He thought about it for a moment. "Very well," he shifted his shoulders to the best of his possibility in his state. "You've heard of the strange occurrences with the mosquitoes recently?" I nodded absent mindedly, picking up a clipboard and a pen, writing down what I saw. "I decided to investigate, and ended up in Z-City where they all collected. I eliminated all of the mosquitoes, but they had a leader who was much stronger. I believed I had eliminated her too when I incinerated a radius of five hundred meters, but she took the blood from her minions and made herself stronger."

I cut in, needing more clarification. "So, this mosquito girl, leader person, she was the one who did this to you?" I waved my pen in his direction.

"Yes," Genos nodded.

"And you managed to kill her?" If she inflicted this sort of harm to him, and wasn't dead, then we had a problem. Then again, Genos probably wouldn't be alive if she weren't dead.

"No," He wasn't shameful of admitting it, and there was a certain glint of respect in his non-missing eye. Of what, I wasn't sure. Even so, I started freaking out.

"What?" I asked, my voice quickening with worry. "Then she's still out there?! Sure, I heard the mosquitoes went after wildlife and cattle, but you said yourself that the leader's stronger now, and she attacked a city! What if she-!"

"Someone else did," Genos continued, as if my freak out never happened. I waved my pen again for elaboration. "Someone else killed her. He destroyed the mosquito girl as though she were nothing, like my efforts against her were nothing. He's strong…." His eye was filled with fire, his determination.

Slowly, the corner of my mouth lifted upwards into a smirk seeing his resolve. "Well, I'll take comfort in that at least." The was a long period of comfortable silence in which I continued writing and checking off things on my clipboard. I listed off all major injuries and parts in need of replacing, now I needed to find all the minor areas where shrapnel might have entered, or where screws were rattling. This was the hard part. I'd need an in depth analysis of Genos's anatomy and its' abrasions. I placed two fingers to my earpiece. "Haf, perform a full body scan of Genos. Find any small discrepancies from the original model."

Genos frowned. "Is Haf really necessary in this situation?"

I snorted, placing my pen on my clipboard. "When isn't Haf necessary? I know you're not very fond of them, but you have to admit, Haf is extremely helpful," I paused. "That pun wasn't necessarily intended, but for the sake of your annoyance, we're going to pretend it was. For the sake of your comfort, Haf won't be connected to the lab's speakers. Happy?" The smile on my face was absolutely cheeky, which I could tell annoyed him even more.

From the ceiling lights, a thin stream of light emitted and flanked out into a small gridded field. It waved up and down over Genos's body, and quickly, it retracted back into the lights. "Alright Haf, how many discrepancies are there aside from the major ones?" My fingers were back on my earpiece, awaiting Haf's response.

" _Approximately five hundred and seven, ma'am."_

"Yeah, figured it was large number," I muttered. "Thanks, Haf," I added in a louder voice. I took my hand away from my ear and looked towards Genos, who had an eyebrow raised. Well, an eyebrow raised was as much as I could tell. Part of one was missing, so it wasn't like I was working with much.

"There's over five hundred, gonna have to tend to those now." I said, not even needing him to ask me anything. It was sort of how we worked. He may have been more metal than flesh, but for me he was still pretty easy to read.

I connected some wires hanging from the ceiling to Genos's body to push out some shrapnel near his chest, and to be certain his core wasn't giving out on him during the operation. An hour or more might have passed, I wasn't keeping track, while I made sure there weren't anymore abrasions near his torso and legs. All five hundred and seven were hard to find, and I had difficulty after the four hundredth mark. Once they were taken care of, I began to replace them all, then I removed Genos's arms to prepare his torso for Doctor Kuseno. I removed his shirt for good measure.

"You didn't do anything to your core, did you?" I asked curiously. I almost forgot about the part of the message that said, "almost self destructed."

Now, he looked shameful. His chest was heating up a bit. "I didn't think I was going to make it after that mosquito girl strengthened herself, so I was going to take her out with me."

There was an angry fire brewing in my chest. I nullified it before it could grow too large. There wasn't a use in getting any more angry than I already had been. "You're really reckless, you know that?" I murmured tiredly. My back was starting to ache, and I still had to reattach his legs and fix up his torso.

"I let my guard down," Genos conceded. He had a really bad habit of doing that, I found. Each reason he had to go through repairs was because at one point in the fight, he had let his guard down. He could really use someone to watch his back.

From behind the corner, I heard the doctor's familiar footsteps. "Oh, you made it further than I thought you would," Doctor Kuseno said from around the corner, holding a case which contained Genos's default arms. He sure took his sweet time preparing those, I thought grudgingly.

I puffed up my chest proudly. "How far did you think I would get?" Impressing the good doctor as an engineer wasn't a very easy thing to do, but when I did, it felt glorious.

"Significantly less than you did," he chuckled, approaching the both of us and laying the case on a cart beside Genos and his table.

"Aw, come on!" I griped jokingly. "Have a little more faith in me, doc!"

"Well," he huffed, lifting an arm on the table while I took the other, "that's a hard thing to have when you manage to almost dehydrate yourself with hydrophobic equipment,"

My face heated up, and I saw Genos's lip quirk upwards in amusement. "Shut up," I grumbled, flustered. It was not a story I wanted to retell, anytime soon, especially not to him.

"There's no need to be embarrassed," Doctor Kuseno said comfortingly, moving the arm closer to Genos's torso as I did the same. "Now, help me attach this arm."

"Right," I nodded, unclenching my teeth. "Do you want to be up or out for this, Genos?" I asked before we actually did anything else professionally, forgetting my previous embarrassment.

He shrugged with his neck for the lack of not having shoulders to shrug with. "It doesn't matter," he said apathetically, because of course it didn't.

"Up it is then," I decided, because getting him unconscious would be more work, which my fatigued body really didn't need.

I put on some goggles and got to work. Doctor Kuseno had me attach the wires from the torso to the arms because my hands were smaller and more nimble than his were, but he made sure to tell me which wires needed to be connected and how to connect them. I didn't need him to hold my hand anymore thanks to how long I'd been now doing this, but the sentiment was appreciated nonetheless.

"Alright, now can you move your arm," I asked Genos, who did so. It twitched a few times and Genos laid it back down on the table. "Looks like there's a spoiled wire," I mumbled, "this might sting a bit," I warned. Thanks to the goggles, I located the spoiled wire easily, and snapped it. Genos inhaled quickly, indicating he had felt it, but I soothed it over by ripping out the wire and replacing it. Sure, he could feel pain, but we dulled the nerves to the point where attacks should at least feel like a bee's sting. I asked Genos to move his arm again to make sure it was now functioning properly, and it all checked out. The same process went for the other arm.

"Jade, help me turn him over," Doctor Kuseno said, holding onto Genos's side. We were going to fix up the legs next, which were damaged near or directly on the femurs and the meniscus'. The entire knee section of both of his legs were torn and needed replacing with completely new parts. I removed all of the wires connected to Genos's chest and turned his legs over while the doctor turned over the rest of his body.

"I'll handle this part, Jade. Why don't you relax?" He offered. I could have melted in the spot from the words I'd been waiting to hear for the whole day. I thanked him happily, fairly certain I was skipping on my way out.

I went out to the front of the lab where I knew we kept a couch, and flopped on it lazily. Fixing up Genos was such a pain. Why did he have to get hurt so often? What kind of people did he fight? This was the seventh time in the year we had to replace his arms. Over the four years of being a cyborg, he'd at least replaced eight pairs of arms, two arms per year, so what made this year any different? Was monster activity rising? Well, he did go to Z-City; the place was the spawn point for all monsters.

But, God damn it, his fault or not, I was still pissed at Genos for managing to break the arms I made. I worked really hard on the design and everything! That was over a week's work down the drain. I guess I really did need to add more plating to the arms if one was taken out so easily, maybe even add more weapons and firearms. I guess I should work on them now, I thought despairingly. If I didn't do it now, then the inspiration I had for it would be gone for a long time, even if this was at the expense of my sleep. I could work on a concept first, not the final product.

I got up and walked over to the desk I was given and sketched out a rough draft. If I was going to fit all the heavy firearms in the arms, then they were going to have to be large and bulky. Maybe they could fold over Genos's default arms? I noted it down as an idea in the corner of the page. They had to have a great destructive power too, and that needed to be showcased through its design. Black spikes, and a lot of them. If it was powerful, I also needed to be certain they wouldn't blow themselves off of Genos's body. It needed a securing area where they would stick. The face plate, possibly? Of course, if he wanted to use this much power on an opponent, it was optional. The attachments to the faceplate weren't completely necessary. If the battle got really desperate, then maybe there would be a part of the arm where he could attach his core, and make a particle beam out of it.

I noted it all down in the corner of the page and began sketching the design. It looked kind of ridiculous at first, but it began to grow on me, and I continued with the sketch until it was detailed enough. On the sketch, I then listed the places where things would go. The core/particle beam processor would enter by unfolding the upper arm and a large blast would exit through the palm of the hand. As I began to make it more detailed, I heard Doctor Kuseno come up from behind again.

"I thought I told you to relax!" He chastised lightly, letting his eyes go over my sketch anyway. He was no doubt interested. It was the fifteenth sketch I'd made, yet none of them really came to life just yet; we were just too busy.

"I know, I know," I groaned, "I just needed a way to let off some steam, and as great as relaxing is, it's not exactly how I relax," I put down my pencil and stretched out my back. "How's Genos doing?"

"The operation was a success, everything works out perfectly, but Genos told me something interesting,"

"Oh yeah?" I asked. "Was it about the mosquito girl?"

Doctor Kuseno looked pensive. "Yes and no," he shrugged. "He told me about the man who defeated the mosquito girl, who supposedly killed her with one punch,"

I raised a brow. That couldn't have been right, could it? One punch? Maybe Genos wasn't able to see correctly when it happened, because there was no way a guy defeated the monster Genos had trouble with, with one punch. It wasn't possible. I expressed my skepticism to the doctor.

"It may sound impossible," he nodded sagely, "but monsters were said to be impossible just over three years ago, and we've seen and done things said to be impossible as well. Surely you're not about to say something is _not_ possible, are you?"

I huffed a laugh. "Well, when you put it like that, I kind of have to believe it!" My grin turned downwards and my tone grew a bit darker. "Genos was talking to me about how strong this guy was. I don't know what he plans to do, but I'm sure it has something to do with following him around or something, should we do anything about that?" I was kind of worried about it, to be honest. Sure, the guy saved him, but what was he really like? Bloodthirsty? Demon like? Strong or not, that wasn't the kind of person Genos should have done anything with.

"I suppose the only thing we can do is hope Genos knows what he's doing, but if he does end up visiting the other man, why don't you accompany him?" He offered.

I frowned contemplatively. I supposed there wouldn't be any harm in joining Genos. "You can gather data on this person and report back to me," Doctor Kuseno said, like that would be what convinced me. Fine, I took the hook. The doctor was pretty manipulative when he wanted to be, and seeing how he was putting me in this position, it wasn't surprising this would be something he chose to be manipulative on, Genos was like his own son, after all.

"Alright, sure." I agreed. It wasn't like I had anything better to do, anyway.

* * *

 **This was much longer than I anticipated.**

 **This is also the first time I've written anything Onepunch Man related, and I'm just now trying to figure out how to write people. Hopefully this first chapter turned out okay!**

 **Also, the format that I'm going to be going by every chapter is sort of like the one here! I wanted to get right into the action, but I also want to explain some things, so it'll be present time, past time, and present time, or maybe the other way around, depending. I'll be putting in some canon stuff and some original stuff, so it'll mix up every once in awhile.**

 **Please leave a review on your way out, I would love some feedback on this first chapter. If you have any questions too, feel free to send them my way!**

 **Reviews are love and motivation!**


	2. He Whose Poker Face has a Poker Face

" _Sometimes, it's just great to bring new people into the mix." - John Oates_

* * *

"I still can't believe you waited four days, and then brought in a normal french fry for me and the doctor to analyze," I griped with a hand over my head, and the other carrying my suitcase on the way to Genos's new sensei's place. What was his name again? Saitama or something?

It was honestly kind of creepy how Genos was trying to work around Saitama. He spent four days observing him to try and find the secret to his power. It wasn't like I really knew what Genos was talking about, but I followed him anyway under the falsehood that I still needed to observe how his arms were working. And then he brought a french fry, a normal french fry, to analyze in the lab.

Those four days were probably the worst of my life. I could have used them to actually work on the creation of a prototype; not the one I was working on recently, but the doctor actually wanted me to create a new pair of arms from one of my old concepts, something I was extremely happy about. And as it was, Genos wanted to observe his sensei, so the doctor redirected his request of new arms to trailing the cyborg.

"I believed the secret to his power laid in his dietary supplements," Genos insisted. "He must be a cyborg like me, there's no other possible explanation for his power."

I shrugged. "Sure, sure. Why don't you ask him what kind of parts he uses to be so strong?" I scoffed sarcastically. Only Genos seemed to take me seriously.

"That's a great idea!" He exclaimed, tapping his palm with a fist.

I dragged my hand down my face. He seriously couldn't be serious. "Well," I sighed, exasperated already, "time for me to find out what your sensei's really like huh? Tell me again, what should I expect?"

Genos sobered up, looking at me in the eye with the utmost intensity. "A man of unparalleled strength. Even from our short encounter and four days worth of investigations, I can tell, he's the strongest being I've ever come across. Be wary of how you conduct yourself around him." He warned. It was honestly kind of intimidating.

I had never actually seen Saitama even though I had been tailing him with Genos. Everytime I tried to look at him, something was obstructing my view. If Genos said this guy was super strong, then I had to prepare myself for the guy looking like anything. Maybe he really was like a demon; a really tall guy, maybe seven feet, with really huge muscles, each one probably being the size of my head…. Or maybe he was really handsome! A nice 5"10, with short fluffy hair, and very nicely toned muscles! He could be anything, from a complete monster to my complete dream guy! I was drooling before I knew it, something which Genos so thankfully pointed out.

"I was not!" I denied, wiping my mouth on my sleeve. "It's probably leftovers from lunch!"

I saw Genos's irises shift the tiniest bit. "Sensors indicate a previous buildup of water, electrolytes, mucus, antibacterial compounds and various enzymes," his irises shifted back. "Are you certain the buildup near the corners your mouth wasn't human saliva?"

"This is exactly what I have Haf for, don't go stealing their job," I muttered contemptuously. Genos shut up at the mention of Haf, and while it may have been a low blow, I really wanted to get meeting with his self proclaimed sensei over with. Attractive or not, I had work to get back to.

"That's his apartment building, isn't it?" I asked after a few more minutes of walking, pointing to an ordinary looking building. The sights around the building however, were quite unordinary. There was a car flipped upside down with the glass of the windows in pieces, and almost everywhere I glanced, buildings were in more than one piece. There was a giant piece of rubble stuck in the pavement, and hell, there was a giant blood stain on the side of the building!

My face went blank. It wasn't too late to have second thoughts, was it?

"Yes, it is." Which question was he answering to? Genos muttered, "after four days of investigations and no concrete results, it's time I use the direct method." Once we reached the front door of what I assumed to be Saitama's apartment, Genos let out a sigh and clenched his fists. "Sensei!" He shouted to the closed door.

From behind it, I could hear someone shifting. My heart beat rose steadily. So this was the moment of truth then? Ugly or gorgeous, I was about to see what he really looked like. Almost hesitantly, the door opened a crack.

"You really showed up." A _bald_ man said sounding indecisive.

...

...I wasn't crying as hard as I thought I would. Was that a good thing then...? He wasn't good looking or bad looking, he was just average! Why did I have to get my hopes up…? I wanted to drop to the ground and hit it with my fist for all it was worth. For dignity's sake I didn't, but I still felt tears build up in my eyes. Damn it, why couldn't I find just one guy?!

"Uh," Saitama paused, looking over both Genos and me with a confused expression. I could hardly blame the guy, we weren't exactly the most normal of people one would normally expect. I wiped a stray tear before it fell.

"It's Genos, Saitama-sensei,"

"Ah, no, who is she?" He jerked his head in my direction. Yeah, I had been expecting that.

I moved to bow and properly introduce myself without embarrassing myself, but Genos moved in front of me. "This is one of my mechanics, Saitama-sensei, she's here to observe my status." Even if I had been emotionally distraught, could I not introduce myself? Genos seemed to decide for me instead, which I didn't know how I felt about.

"Can you not call me sensei?" Saitama asked. He looked kind of awkward about it, which again, I didn't blame him for.

"Master!"

"Not master either!"

Despite what hesitance he obviously had about us entering his home, Saitama let the both of us in, and set us at his table with tea. I sipped at the cup thoughtfully, tasting refreshing green tea. "This is really nice tea, did you brew it yourself?" I asked for politeness' sake.

Saitama tilted his head at me and stared with blank eyes. "No, this is the cheap stuff at the supermarket."

"Oh." Abashed because I knew almost nothing between cheap or expensive tea, I rubbed the back of my head, my stupid laugh the only thing filling up the small room. I looked at Genos for him to back me up, who was staring straight at Saitama. Backup was definitely not going to happen, then. I sighed quietly, waiting for someone to break the silence.

"Once you're done with your drink, go home," Saitama said bluntly, "I'm not looking for disciples." He tilted his head again, looking at Genos's arms. "Wait-you're back in one piece?"

"Yes," Genos's head shot up. "My body is mostly mechanical, so as long as there are parts, repairs are quick." As quick as they could be anyway. The amount of days and nights I stood up making repairs and modifications were countless. The latest I hadn't slept for while working on Genos's arms was probably 120 hours; five days.

"You're an odd one," Saitama said. I scoffed to myself. Odd didn't even manage to cover Genos. "And you said she's your mechanic?" He jerked his thumb my way and I jumped up realizing the attention was on me.

I answered before Genos could for me, and bowed. "Ah, yes, I'm Jade Valles. I work with another scientist who's been teaching me for sometime now. We usually have Genos's parts in healthy supply." There wasn't any change in Saitama's expression, though it felt as if he wasn't interested at all. The fact there wasn't any change made me a bit unnerved. Usually, I was able to pick up on people easily, but his poker face was unbelievably strong, as though it had layers; like his poker face had a poker face.

"Speaking of," Genos said, "what kind of parts do you use, Sensei? Who are your mechanics?" Was he still thinking that the bald guy was a cyborg, especially after the french fry results? And did he really have to ask that question?

"Don't have any," Saitama said. Then he really was a human, but what did that mean for the whole, "one punch," part of the equation?

Genos looked as if it were some great conundrum, then pointed to the top of Saitama's head. "Then what about that skin coloured armour on your head?"

"Yeah, that's my skin." Saitama frowned.

"But that would mean you're bald despite being so young," Genos murmured, holding a hand to his mouth.

Saitama's face scrunched up into a dangerous expression. "So I'm bald-what's your problem?!" I flinched, his yell shocking me. Being bald was a sore spot, huh? I supposed it would be for anybody if they… Actually, I didn't know what caused him to be bald.

"Me?" Genos asked, "you'll listen to my problem's?"

"Oh jeeze," I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. Saitama really didn't know what he got himself into.

I heard a monotonous, "No thanks," but Genos went on anyway like he hadn't heard it.

"It all started four years ago…" My eyes softened as I looked down at my hands. Had it really been four years already? It felt like so much less. It would have been easy to say it felt like it all happened yesterday, it would have been cliché, and yet…

* * *

Ever since I had been traveling around with Doctor Kuseno, I found that I had learned more than I ever did than in any school course. In fact, my schools actually taught some theories and mechanics incorrectly, so I had to relearn many concepts for me to properly understand the doctor and how he worked. It was hard with how many concepts I had to relearn because the ones that were originally taught were ingrained in my mind. It was many an occasion that the doctor had to correct me, or take over a small project in fear of me getting hurt.

Of course, it hadn't always been like that. There was a part of me that always said that Doctor Kuseno looked down on me, even though I knew it wasn't true. Doctor Kuseno was a sweet old man, if not frank. He was generous, he was grandfatherly, and he had the smile to prove it. Unfortunately, my insecurities outweighed my logic and knowledge.

I was a burden. I was only supposed to help him locate the cyborg as soon as possible, and here I was wanting to learn from him. Of course, Doctor Kuseno had always been apart of my childhood, even if he didn't know it. As soon as I'd been able to walk, I remembered reading his dissertations and essays about the science of kinesthetics, or the robotic sciences. With the man right in front of me, there was no way I was going to pass up any chance of being his apprentice.

I felt selfish for wanting it. The mad cyborg was still out there, and I hadn't used any form of my tracking skills whatsoever. I was getting impatient. The doctor was getting impatient. Then he asked me a question: "Why are you chasing this cyborg?" I thought it was obvious at first. The cyborg killed my parents, why wouldn't I want to chase it down?! He hadn't seemed satisfied with the answer even though he didn't press any further on it. As I dug deep down into what other answers I could have given, I realized, I just didn't want to be alone, and who else better to be with than my childhood icon?

I wasn't doing what I said I would to help. I felt useless, so I finally decided to kick my ass into gear. Doctor Kuseno must have been so confused too, when I asked, "Do you have any remaining technological sample of the cyborg left?" He handed one to me without a word and watched. The sample he gave me wasn't anything close to a tracking device, but it was still active despite the distance made between it and its owner. It was a piece of the malfunctioning nerve piece, I realized, an active neurological chip. Seeing how precious the sample was, I reverse engineered it, making an identical copy first to be certain I wouldn't waste it. It wouldn't be exactly the same though, more like a fallback if the original was somehow wasted. Then, I connected the original to the lab computers, coding it into the proper software and, from there, had Haf move in. We were connected to the cyborg. Haf set up the map grid of every country in the world, pinpointing the country the cyborg was in, and the town it was nearing.

The entire process was long, and it wasn't easy. Setting it up myself took at least two hours, while Haf's portion took only two minutes, tops.

On the map, a red dot beeped, the sound like a sonar repeating in the lab's speaker system. "Doctor," I called out happily, satisfied with my work, "I think we've found him!"

"Well, I'll be!" He exclaimed, rubbing his eyes like it were too good to be true. That was the first moment he looked truly proud of me, his eyes ablaze with passion and his mouth smiling that grandfather smile. "Where is he headed next?"

I pointed to the small landmass on screen and the red dot. "The town here is where he was last, and by the course he's following, he'll hit this town next."

Doctor Kuseno frowned. "That's several towns over from our current location," we'd never get there in time, was unspoken yet in the air.

It seemed bleak. I smiled. This was the perfect opportunity for me to show off how far my prototype had come after being with the doctor. My boots became much more advanced in our little time together. Perhaps not as advanced as I'd hoped, but they were certainly faster, reaching a maximum of 300mph. I discovered the compartment that converted atmospheric vapour into steam needed many adjustments. The fact of the matter was that it stored too much vapour, so when the vapour went through conversion, the excess that hadn't been converted was wasted. Too little output to the intake; my boots weren't efficient enough.

Now, with the adjustments made to efficiency and speed, I needed to do another test. I shot up and grabbed a large satchel holding equipment ranging from scientific, to a full on first aid kit. The rate of survivors after every town the cyborg visited was low, but I always held a little hope.

"Jade, what are you doing?" The doctor's voice was grave, his hands held out to stop me.

I pushed past him and slipped my boots on quickly. "What does it look like? Getting there normally won't be nearly as fast as me using my boots, so I'll go warn the townspeople as soon as possible." My head turned upwards to the lab's ceiling. "Haf, download the tracking software onto my phone with the map, and add my location following my phone!"

He shook his head. "You can't expect me to let you out there if you're heading to the same destination as him." His concern was touching for only knowing me for three weeks. Even so, I had other plans.

"At the speed I'll be going, I'll be there before him!" I argued. I was close to snapping, and that was something I didn't want Doctor Kuseno to hear.

"You don't know if your body can physically handle that speed!"

"Then all the more reason I test it!" I sighed, "Doctor, I know you want to keep me out of trouble, but if I don't at least try to warn those townspeople, then all of them will be dead with me knowing I could have at least saved one," I tapped the tip of my boot on the ground. "This isn't about my safety anymore, this is about _people_ dying." I'd be damned if another town got annihilated. I wasn't about to let someone else's parents or loved ones be killed.

Defiantly I stood, the doctor's eyes narrowed on me. We were at an impasse, and it felt like an eternity until he finally gave in with advisory that I only fly over to the town to warn the people to evacuate. I nodded impatiently, saying, "I know," like the doctor was my mother. ...In a way, I supposed Doctor Kuseno was really all I had left as a paternal figure… Fitting for him to have nagged me then…

I shot off into the sky like a rocket, still unstable because the doctor was right, I wasn't used to this speed, but gradually managed to steady myself because I flew more than once before testing the new updated version of my boots. I t was more difficult than first thought, and I shouldn't have been as cocky as I was, however I was still faster than the cyborg. Thanks to Haf, I was able to know where I was and where the cyborg was. After about half an hour, I was ahead. Granted, not by very much, although the lead I had was encouraging.

"Come on," I muttered, "let's get there now." I sped up, going from my original 200mph to 300mph. It was harder to keep my eyes open, and my hair was flying everywhere; I couldn't see. I moved my hair out of the way briskly, closing my eyes for a few seconds and opening them again. I should have had the foresight for the need of goggles, unfortunately I didn't.

Suddenly, I heard a horrible spewing sound. My jaw dropped, looking at the black smog my boots were creating. "Haf, what the hell's happening?!" I yelled from my earpiece. I almost choked from all the wind entering my mouth.

" _You are losing altitude, ma'am. I advise landing as soon as possible."_

"How close am I to the town?!"

" _Approximately 12.874752 kilometers away, ma'am."_

I shuddered out a shaky breath. "...I'm going to keep going… I'm going to keep going…" I repeated like a mantra. "Haf, be real with me, how much longer can my boots go...?" There wasn't a response. "...Haf?" I asked uncertainly. "I'm gonna need an answer soon, bud!"

" _Ten minutes, ma'am."_

I cursed under my breath. Then those modification hadn't helped at all, they made my boots worse. I wasn't going to be able to use my boots after either. If something was smoking, then something was fried, and was therefore, unsalvageable. I'd have to work on a new pair, that was, if I survived.

I was also going to have to do some quick math if I wanted an estimate of if I could really make twelve kilometers in ten minutes. In the back of my mind, I knew it was more than enough time. The only difference was that was under immense distress. "Okay, okay," I breathed. Three hundred miles per hour. I had been out for half an hour, which meant in half an hour I'd gone 150 miles. Converted to kilometers, it was 241. And I had about twelve to thirteen more kilometers to go. Three hundred miles per hour converted to miles per minute was five. Five mile converted to kilometers was a little bit over eight. Therefore, I'd gone 241 kilometers, and could easily make it to the town.

I grimaced. How would I get back to the lab? I'd have to worry about it after. I lowered myself in the air, and found the town's buildings. I landed on the ground and checked my phone. The cyborg was going to be here in about fifteen minutes. That wasn't enough time to evacuate. Maybe if I spread the word that everyone was going to be killed, panic would set in and get them out faster.

I proceeded to do anything I could to warn the townspeople, but they refused to believe me, making me frustrated. It was a matter of life or death, even if they didn't know it and they chose death. I cried out to the people, "you need to escape now," and they gave no inclination to leaving. Was it because I was still considered a kid? Did they think I was pulling a stupid little prank?! Were they so deluded by peace that they didn't know when a war was on the horizon?!

I rose up in the sky once again and screamed. Why were they so stupid?! Haf chimed in on my earpiece, sounding urgent. " _M_ _a'am, there is a high energy reading approaching the town at an extremely fast pace!"_

 _Shit._ Without an inch of reaction time, there was a large silhouette of what I assumed to be the cyborg, who blasted the town to smithereens. I felt sick to my stomach. "No!" I was still up in the air, but the blast radius blew gales and stones in my direction. I lost balance, and my boots failed to keep me up.

In the middle of a free fall, the shock of it all just came to me; I was going to die.

I lost consciousness.

* * *

"Enough, you idiot! Shorten it to 20 words or less!"

I jumped, the table in front of me slamming on top of my knees and the cups clanging. Feeling both Genos's and Saitama's eyes on me, I flushed and grinned. I rubbed the back of my head, muttering, "sorry," over and over. They were talking like I didn't exist anyway, it wasn't like they couldn't ignore me anymore, right? Because I desperately wanted to disappear at the very moment.

Genos released a breath and looked back at Saitama with hard eyes. "Here's the short version sensei: please teach me how to become strong like you."

I glanced at Saitama and was surprised at how much his face had seemed to change. From annoyed and blank to determine and serious. The change in demeanour was almost astounding. This was the kind of face I had first expected when hearing Genos acquired a sensei, and I still wasn't attracted to it. I was actually terrified of it. I could see it now, this man was powerful, no doubt about it.

"Genos," Saitama said in such a tone, I straightened my back, and he wasn't even calling my name.

"Yes!" Genos exclaimed. Even he could tell Saitama was doing something.

"How old are you?"

"I'm ninteen, sir!"

Saitama's head lowered. "So young…" He murmured. "I'm sure you'll surpass me in no time."

"Do you mean that?" Genos was astonished. I was gaping.

Saitama's eyes were closed in concentration. "I'm twenty five now, but I was twenty two when I started training in the summer." Surprise was etched into both Genos's and my face. Three years? Three years was all it took. His training must have been actual hell. "Sure, I'll teach you." His face took on a darker expression. "But it won't be easy. Can you handle it?"

This was the moment Genos was waiting for wasn't it? Genos's whole presence felt resolved and thrilled. "Yes, sir!" He bellowed.

His irises shifted at the same time that Haf notified me. " _M_ _a'am, there is a high energy reading coming your way."_ My eyes widened and I rolled out of the way just in time for something to crash through the wall.

It was a disgusting green human-praying mantis hybrid, with a screechy voice and… It was defeated in one punch… "Pay for my ceiling!"

I clicked my tongue. Suddenly, Genos leapt off the balcony, and when I turned around Saitama was nowhere in sight. My head dropped. I was left alone, huh? It sounded like a thrashing outside, so I didn't bother checking. I probably was better off not knowing.

"Even if it is cheap," I muttered into the cup, "this is still really good tea." I took a loud sip and enjoyed the fact it was still warm.

"Jade!" I heard my name coming from the outside, so I went over the balcony and saw Genos cupping his hands around his mouth. "Sensei and I are going to be gone for awhile. Please take care of Sensei's apartment!"

"Fix my ceiling!" Saitama added. He must have thought since Genos called me his mechanic, that I could fix anything, including his ceiling.

I gave a lazy thumbs up, and they ran off so fast, my eyes barely kept up. Well, I thought, I might as well get started. I couldn't believe I was actually about to fix his apartment. I did have my tool, considering I brought my suitcase, but did I have the proper materials? Sifting through the broken ceiling rubble, I thought vaguely I could work with it. It would probably look extremely patched. I sighed. Well, I had a big paycheck, might as well spend it, right?

I left Saitama's apartment and closed the door with a rock to keep it from fully closing, and walked to the department store. I bought the proper materials, a lot of drywall, plaster, wooden beams, and studs. I looked in my bags as I walked back. Yeah, that all sounded good.

I went to work and started rebuilding the wall. It wasn't necessarily the ceiling that was broken through, but a high part of the back wall that connected to the ceiling. I opened my suitcase filled with hammers, wrenches, drills, etc; any tool you could name was in there.

As I started laying my foundations, I began to think. Was Saitama the ideal choice as a person to have Genos's back? Sure, he was strong, hell, extremely strong, but could I trust him to have Genos covered?

I wasn't able to come up with a certain answer, I even thought about it when I finished fixing his ceiling. Saitama didn't look like the kind of guy who would abandon someone else selfishly, he looked like the kind of guy who would only get in the action if he had to. I snorted. And Genos was the person who would always run in headstrong. Would Saitama get rid of Genos's bad habit of letting his guard down? Probably not. Saitama seemed to casual of a guy to notice. He didn't seem like the teaching type either, but if Genos was happy, then I should have at least been happy too.

I finished my tea hastily, looking for the tea bags it was made with. Would Saitama mind me snooping through his kitchen? Probably. Did I really care? Not really. Looking through his fridge, I noticed he lacked some food. Seemed like someone needed to go shopping. It was Saturday, wasn't it? There would be a special sale. I hoped for his sake, he didn't miss it, but he was somewhere else at the moment. It would end in about two hours or so.

The door slammed open and I slammed the fridge door closed, pressing my body against it in shock. "I didn't look through your food!" I exclaimed, _very_ convincingly.

There wasn't a reaction. I looked into the room and saw Saitama tripping over my tools, latching for his wallet like a madman. "Who cares?! There's a special sale and I'm missing it!"

"There are two and a half hours left, Sensei!" Looking over I saw Genos with his hair in an _afro_ and him missing an eye. The _other one_ this time.

I gaped. How the hell did he manage to do that?! Saitama finally found his wallet, and exclaimed a hearty, "Let's go Genos!" While Genos responded with a happy, "yes, Sensei!" And they both rushed out the door, again. Leaving me alone _again._

My eyebrow twitched, and I thought I burst a blood vessel from how much I was restraining myself to not scream. Whatever, Genos would feel my wrath when he came back for repairs.

* * *

 **I hate rehashing as much as the next person, but I'm going to try and keep things interesting with the original stuff I'm planning and with, you know, having events told through a different perspective. And that part where Jade says, "I can't believe you brought a french fry," is referencing the newest Onepunch Man OVA. It's hysterical and if you haven't seen it, fix that problem immediately! I hope this chapter was to your expectations! If not, please do leave some criticism in the reviews, I would love to know your thoughts, good or bad! I also have a pretty dry sense of humour, so I would definitely enjoy advice on that! Also, when I said I would do original stuff soon, I meant like, right after this chapter. So, the next one or two chapters should be original, then we head back into canon, and original, and so on, so forth.**

 **I hope you guys have had a very Happy New Years!**

 **Reviews are love and motivation!**


	3. Access Denied

_"I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image." - Stephen Hawking_

* * *

Whenever I was tired of my old, dusty apartment, I would always come to the lab to work, or sleep. It wasn't much help for my back, and it wasn't very clean, but it was my home away from home. The lab was a moderately large place too, so there was always room to do something. It wasn't like it was unusual to sleep there either, Genos and Doctor Kuseno lived in the lab. Not the laboratory part of it anyway, just the general facility. For sleeping arrangements, there were only two beds, and the one couch; I always took the couch.

I could have taken Genos's bed because he didn't necessarily need it, nor did he necessarily need sleep, but the doctor and I had him sleep in a bed anyway, because it didn't feel right if he didn't. Yes, he was a cyborg trained to eliminate another cyborg, however he was still human, and deserved to retain human qualities. That's why the doctor gave him biomechanic gustation and olfaction sensors (taste and smell respectively). Not to mention the whole, free will thing. Genos, as a cyborg, was vastly different from an android, and those human qualities were what divided the line between the two.

Even so, there were some human qualities that made dealing with him quite annoying. Like being late. I had thought after I left Saitama's apartment that once the special sale was done, Genos would be back for repairs on his endoskull. Thankfully, he wasn't missing an arm this time, so it made my job easier. But at the moment, it was nine thirty at night, and stores closed at ten. Saitama probably needed as much food on sale a possible, given the lack of it in his fridge, but he seriously couldn't have needed the full two and a half hours for it.

And so, waiting for Genos lead me to waiting on the couch, and wishing for a bed, in the lab because I was not going to wait until I got a call from the lab, in my apartment, walk to the lab, work roughly three hours on Genos's endoskull, faceplate, and hair, and walk back to my apartment. Not at this time of night.

I yawned again, stretching out on the couch, legs passing over the armrest. It was a small couch, and wasn't meant for sleeping, not by a longshot. My back was going to kill me at this rate. I briefly wondered, Genos really wouldn't mind if I took his bed for the night, would he? Of course, there was still a chance he'd be back in half an hour, but I was still tired from not sleeping well the night before. I swore I was getting insomnia.

The doctor himself was just about to doze off. He always slept early, ten o'clock on the dot. I wished I had been as lucky to fall asleep as quickly as him. Screw it, I thought, I was sleep deprived anyway, what was going to stop me from being comfortable? I threw the thin sheet off of my body and marched towards Genos's room.

Flicking the switch, I let my eyes roam on the things he kept. It wasn't much. Even so, it seemed sad. I'd known him for long enough that he did have a personality, albeit bent on revenge(although I couldn't say much, otherwise I'd be a hypocrite). His room didn't have knickknacks or doodads, or anything. It was simply a bed, and a dresser filled with his array of sleeveless shirts, pants, and shoes. If he did have anything else, then I wasn't focused enough to check; my eyes were drooping and the mattress was inviting me into sleep. I flopped on it.

As my head hit the pillow, which smelled distinctly like metal and synthetic polymer fibers, I was out like a light.

* * *

My hand trailed down the soft tufts of green grass, the plant feeling more heavenly than any other fabric I had ever encountered. Instead of pricking me like I had been expecting, I found the blades to be nothing but cotton-like, only better. I squeezed my hand around the material, picking it up, and playing with it in my cupped hands. I felt them, rolling them around each of my individual fingers. Satisfied with their fluffy texture, I placed them back with the other blades of grass, seeing the damaged roots reconnect with the ground almost magically.

As the wind drew across the twilight sky, I painted on a blissful smile, the cotton grass ruffling around my bare legs, and my white sundress tickling me along with it. Every breeze, every breath, every touch was filled with life and serenity. I let out a contented sigh. There were no words to describe how amazing this place felt. I gave no thought to what I might have done prior to being here. There was nothing to be worried about. Not here.

Turning around on my knees, the water skipped on its surface, cascading from a large waterfall filled with stunning dragons of various colours. The river had no end in sight, passing even the horizon. The dragons however, reminded me of koi fish, only more elegant and beautiful. My favourite dragon by far was the dark gray with shimmering blue stripes, claws sharp and clean. I looked back at the river, reaching my hand out to the couple on the other side of the large and long stone bridge, with a smile. They must have noticed the magical creatures in the water too, they were impossible to ignore. What I wanted to say was, "beautiful day, isn't it," to the two silhouettes across the bridge, yet no sound left my mouth.

I frowned momentarily, when my gaze was caught yet again by the gray and blue dragon, rising from the river with the sun shining off of the small droplets of its back. My breath caught from its beauty, and it attempted to cross the river. I knew I just had to follow it. Standing from my sitting position, I wiped the cotton grass sticking to my clothes and smoothed my dress out. Holding onto my straw hat to make sure it wouldn't fall off, I ran on my bare feet to the bridge. Cotton grass entertaining my toes, it took but a moment for me to reach the head of the bridge.

As I began to cross, the pitter patter of feet on stone seemed to draw the attention of a few new dragons, five in total. An emerald green and sapphire blue one which danced clumsily, a wise pure snow white one which rided the waters with grace, a metallic gray and ashen yellow one which was nudging my hand gently, making me pet its snout. And the last two. They were the most menacing of them all. A threatening poison purple, with eyes gleaming a threatening ruby red, and a golden dragon with scarlet red patterns. The purple, and gold and red dragons glared at each other, like they were battling one other with their eyes.

I felt like I was walking into something extremely dangerous. Stepping backwards in shock, the yellow and gray dragon was disgruntled at not being pet. Looking behind itself, it saw the two powerful dragons, and let out a roar to which the gold and red one smirked. The purple dragon glowered, but soon gained an idea, head bobbing upwards. Its head snapped my way, and it moved quickly like a serpent, ramming its head into the bridge. I jumped, my heart skipping a beat. It was trying to break the bridge?! It was trying to kill me!

Three of the five dragons shrieked; yellow and gray, white, and emerald and sapphire. I shook my arms frantically, losing my balance, and the three dragons raced towards me as I began to fall into the rapids. My hand touched the water first, and it burned like no other pain I had felt before. I cradled my hand when I realized I was no longer falling. I was on the back of a dragon, the gray and blue dragon which I admired so much. I smiled, tears suddenly appearing in my eyes. It was going to carry me to the other side. I was going to see the couple.

The dragons roared aggravatedly, and I turned to raise a hand towards them calmingly. Everything was fine now! The emerald and sapphire one thought differently, however, when it rammed into the gray and blue one's side, effectively having me fall once more. The purple dragon, seeing my vulnerability, flew at breakneck speed, and time slowed. The dragon opened its massive jaw, revealing its razor edged teeth, looking as sharp as swords, planning to either tear me to shreds or swallow me whole.

Time sped back up, and the white dragon rammed its head into that of the purple one's. It tried to whip its long tail back around to catch me, but it was too late. The yellow and gray dragon attempted to swoop down and reached out its short claw towards me. As I raised my hand, my back hit the water. And I fell.

"JADE!"

I opened my eyes abruptly, finding myself looking at the ceiling of the lab. To my right was Doctor Kuseno who had concerned eyes trained on me. I breathed heavily, feeling a dampness on my cheeks. I rubbed at my eyes. Was I crying? Then, those dragons and the river… It was a dream… I looked down at the rest of my body. I was laying in a bed, akin to those found in hospitals. My leg was in a cast, elevated, and I had gauze and scratches all over my body. It stung all over, particularly to the right of my stomach. "What happened…?" I croaked weakly, playing with the bed sheet in my hand. Cotton, I noticed.

Gravely, Doctor Kuseno answered me. "You've been unconscious for several days now," he shook his head, placing a hand to his temple. "I didn't know if you would wake up, but just at this moment you were thrashing wildly. Now, tell me, what caused you to act so violently while asleep?"

Part of me knew he already knew why, and just wanted to hear it anyway for the confirmation of it. I obliged, stuttering from the shock if it all. "I-I don't know, I had this weird dream," I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, noticing it was bandaged there too. Everything I was about to say was going to sound ridiculous. "A-at first, it started off all nice and pretty. I was in this field of soft grass, then there was a bridge a-and a river, and a couple on the other side, and d-dragons!" I rambled. "Then there was this dragon that I wanted to chase for some reason, and I went on the bridge, then this other dragon wanted to kill me, and for some reason the river water was boiling, and these other dragons wanted to save me, b-but I fell in the water anyway, and I think I drowned…" I coughed from how dry my throat was. The doctor handed me a glass of water, which I gulped down like my life depended on it.

He frowned, perplexed, then decided to change the subject after a small period of silence. "Haf notified me that you lost consciousness mid flight once the cyborg reached the town," I flinched instinctively, remembering how much firepower he used to blow up only one small piece of land. The doctor's frown deepened as he continued. "You were a several feet above the ground when you fell. You broke your leg, fractured multiple bones, you have a large gash resting over your pancreas to your pelvic bone, and other minor injuries." I moved my hand to my hospital gown, lifting it to look at where he said the gash was. There was a large bandage wrapped around it, about the size of my forearm. It was stained with blood, and would have to be changed soon. I cringed, able to feel blood flowing if I concentrated hard enough. I opted to ignore it, the best I was able to, anyway. "It might scar." He added.

"I'm sorry," I whimpered, looking down at my hands. "I got hurt because I was careless, a-and I worried you, a-and made you do all this for me…" I was shameful of myself. I had been an idiot, and now I was paying for it.

"Worried?" Doctor Kuseno laughed without a hint of humour. "I was downright furious!" His smile was unsettling and served to make me feel worse. Nothing to top it all off like an, " I told you so." I closed my eyes in anticipation, to hear it and feel like garbage, but it never came. Instead, the doctor looked at me with his kind grandfatherly expression, and said, "What matters most now, however, is that you are alive, and nothing makes me happier." He patted my good knee, his eyes twinkling.

I smiled softly, nodding in appreciation. I let my eyes trail around the room, and as I did, I noticed how much equipment was hooked up to me for support. It dawned on me; I really could have died an honest to God death. My life would have ended. In retrospect, I never really did have much of a plan for life. I only wanted to be a recognized engineer, and yet that was still a tough thing to become. Between not being taught the correct concepts, and not being acknowledged because of my youth, being what I wanted to be was hard. There had even been instances in the coffee shop when I wondered what kind of future I had in store if all I did was to sell frappuccinos, and to receive a barely livable wage.

It was ironic in a sense, that after a near death experience that I truly learned how much I wanted to live and have a future, whether it be good or bad. And Doctor Kuseno helped me learn that. He taught me everything I was missing in the sciences, everything that was incorrect. I owed him everything for more than one reason now. I owed him my life.

"How much longer do I have to stay in this bed? And how long will the cast be on?" The doctor chuckled. Knowing me well enough by now, he knew I wanted to get back to work no matter what, even at the cost of my own body. He opposed this many times, but he knew I was stubborn enough to drag myself to my equipment if I wasn't able to move around.

"I want you to stay in bed for another day or so, and the cast should stay on for six to eight weeks. By your standards, you want to be in a wheelchair now, and the cast will be on for six weeks only." Displease was written all over his face, because of course he wanted me to heal properly, and I didn't care if anything would scar. All that mattered to me was that I was alive.

I nodded. "So, I can get that wheelchair now?" I rasped, reaching for the glass of water again. Realizing it was empty, I frowned, but the doctor took it sighing, having exited the room for a few moments, and brought the chair along with a full glass in. I drank it as he placed the chair by my bedside. I thanked him. Carefully, I maneuvered myself to avoid further pain, it didn't work out too well, and landed in the chair, biting my lip to keep from crying out.

Doctor Kuseno hovered over me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'm fine, I'm fine," I insisted. "Can you please take me to the lab?" I asked pleadingly, jutting my lip out in a pout for good measure. The doctor was very exasperated with me already, yet answered to my wishes anyway.

As he rolled me in the direction of the lab, I found I had a question I hadn't asked just yet, and wanted answered. Growing somber, I asked, "Doctor, the town-there weren't any survivors, were there?" I expected the answer to be like the previous time, no survivors whatsoever. It was hopeless, and I saw with my own eyes how much artillery the cyborg used. There was no way anyone would be able to live and tell the tale after all of that.

"One," he said. My head whipped around, straining my neck from how fast I turned. "There was one survivor. A teenage boy." It was a miracle. There was actually a survivor! It should have been joyous! I grimaced. But it wouldn't be joyous for him. He was the only living person after his town was destroyed. He must have had family and friends. He was essentially ripped apart from everything he'd ever known and thrust into this mess. Besides, who knew how injured and broken he was.

"He's here?" I looked at Doctor Kuseno expectantly until he nodded. I was curious, and sad, and I supposed I wanted to make my heart weigh more than it did. "Please, take me to him instead." He didn't turn back around to the medical wing like I expected. We kept moving on to the lab. Why were we headed to the lab? I asked the doctor.

He gave no answer, which unsettled me among my confusion. An uneasy silence. Upon reaching the lab, my eyes widened considerably. There was a teenage boy, like the doctor said, on an operating table. There were so many wires connected to his body as life support, and it looked so much more painful than what I went through. It made me glad I wasn't as hurt. He, on the other hand, looked horrible, burnt up and mangled. If the doctor hadn't told me he found someone, I probably would have wondered if what I was looking at was even human. It was too much…

I put up a hand to cover my mouth, bile rising to my throat. How could someone survive like that? Tears welled up in my eyes. This was what actually happened to someone. This was what actually happened to him. He looked tiny, like a kid. The amount of pain he'd gone through in an instant, and now turned to this; a body having second to third degree burns, and broken bones far beyond salvaging. How did the doctor expect to fix this?

Before knowing it myself, my hands lightly touched the wheels of my wheelchair, and rolled to the teen's side. His hair was coated in dirt and blood, skin horribly pale and covered in ash. "What's going to happen to him?" His breathing was ragged, and looked like it hurt with each inhale and exhale. I looked closely at his lips. They were turning blue and were chapped. There was the familiar beep of a heart rate monitor and my eyes followed to where it was coming from. His heart rate was as steady as it could be in his situation. The only consolation I could think of was that it wasn't flatlining.

I wiped at my eyes. Damn it, what the hell was this anymore? Why did I care? This guy shouldn't have been my concern… But all the horrors he had to witness, and the people he must have lost… Was it sympathy, empathy? I didn't know, I just wanted the aching in my chest to stop despite bringing this upon myself.

If I strained my ears far enough, I could hear Doctor Kuseno gathering equipment together. "Before he fell unconscious, he requested me," he shifted another piece of equipment, "to turn him into a cyborg."

A chill ran down my spine. "What?" I whispered. It was a desperate situation, I knew that! "He knows what he's asking for right? What if he turns out like the other one?!" But he could easily go mad like the other cyborg had.

"He won't, never worry." The tone in which he said it seemed like there was no room for argument. There was still more of this I didn't understand!

"But, doctor-!"

"I must work on the creation of his endoskeleton. Please don't disturb me during this time."

He shut me out. He wasn't going to talk anymore. I scowled. I looked towards the boy again. Turning himself into a cyborg… It was an extremely reckless choice of action. And yet, looking at him again, it was more of a matter of life or death. If he didn't undergo the operation, he would likely die, last minutes being of complete suffering, and if he did undergo the operation, he would be a cyborg, the same kind of thing which destroyed his everything. "You're an idiot…" I whispered shakily, feeling my heart drop to my stomach in misery. Gently, I grasped his hand in mine, hoping not to cause him pain in his sleep, and his fingers curled instinctively. I shook silently, tears dripping down my cheeks, and onto his him.

That was how I first met Genos.

* * *

There's something about being shaken awake that's entirely unpleasant. Whether it be the actual shaking or having your name called out multiple times, it's just annoying. The good doctor and resident cyborg knew I hated being woken up in general, and so left me to my sleep most of the time, unless something important was going on.

As it was, something important (repairs) was going on, and I was frantically being shaken awake. "Wake up."

I didn't react for a while until the shaking became more vicious. "I wish my arm was detachable so I could slap you with it," I growled darkly. Moving so I sat on the bed, I shook my hair out and ran a hand through it. Upon clearing my vision, I found Genos still in need of repairs to his endoskull and hair.

Ignoring my comment, he spoke. "Doctor Kuseno wants to commence repairs now, and wants you to lead the operation." I could hardly take him seriously. What anger I had previously about him getting hurt dissipated. He looked ridiculous.

In an attempt to smother my laugh, I coughed. "This has been, what? The fifth time he's wanted me to be in charge? Can't Doctor Kuseno do it himself?" I complained.

Genos frowned. "I've tried to convince him otherwise myself, but he's adamant on having you do this for some reason."

I hopped off the bed and groaned, stretching. "Alright, fine. Let's get it over with!" Like I had said earlier; the fifth time. I didn't know if the old man knew I valued my sleep preciously and wanted to get back at me for something, if this was supposed to be a, "learning opportunity," or if he was too tired to do it himself. In any scenario, although I was agitated, it made me kinda glad. Talking with Genos wasn't that bad among writing notes down.

As we walked side by side to the area of the facility I liked to call, "Genos's Repair Room," I wondered. "Hey, if I was crashing your room, where did you sleep?" I tried to play off as casual, hoping my expression didn't betray me. Out of context and with different wording, it could have sounded much worse, something of which I was very aware of.

"I took the couch." He said it so apathetically, like it didn't bother him that I knit my brows together. I was confused.

"Why didn't you just wake me up? I would have moved." Genos gave me a look. We both knew I was lying. "Okay, I wouldn't have, but still. The couch isn't comfortable, better me than you, yeah?"

He shrugged. "You looked comfortable where you were, there was no point in moving you."

I sighed. I had been comfortable, so why did I feel so guilty about it? I basically stole his bed, shouldn't he have been more angry? I rubbed the back of my head, looking downwards. He really could have at least moved me, I probably wouldn't have minded. And besides, if I didn't fit into that tiny thing called a couch, how did Genos? He was taller than I was. I shook my head. There wasn't a point into thinking too much about it.

Leading him into the lab, Genos started with the usual; stripping down and laying on the table. I picked up my clipboard and pen, ready to list down any injuries. The obvious one was the large hole on the right of his face (left on his side) where his eye was missing and where equipment was probably damaged, the left side of his faceplate was cracked, and then there was the entire different problem with his hair.

"You know," I muttered, checking over my list, "this would be so much more efficient if you just let the computers do their job instead of having me do this manually." The process would be faster, and would ensure Genos wasn't as damaged than me fiddling with nuts and bolts.

His eye narrowed. "You know why I don't want to be repaired by the computers." He was targeting Haf again.

"Yeah," I breathed, "I know." I needed a change of subject, especially if I needed another hour or so to sort all of the missing parts. "So what was it this time, a mutant flying pig?" I joked.

"His name was Carnage Kabuto." Knowing it was his turn to speak about whatever he desired, Genos carried on, clenching his fists. "Once Sensei and I reached the House of Evolution, I decided to eliminate the area in which they inhabited. The building did crumble, but they had a trap door. In entering it, I discovered two energy signals. Before I was aware, I was taken out easily," his voice became strained, laced with underlying agitation, "and shoved into a wall. When I was able to get out, I noticed Sensei had left, so I followed to where the energy signals gathered. I attacked Kabuto with the first chance I received, but it seemed to do nothing against him. In the end, he was able to blow away my final attack… I barely scratched him…"

As he spoke, there were a few words which I understood vaguely. The House of Evolution sounded familiar. Maybe it had something to do with a well known bioengineer? They did something with DNA, didn't they? I racked my brain for any scientist I could think of. I narrowed it down to three; Doctor Kuseno, Gero, and Genus. The good doctor obviously wasn't it, the same could be said for Gero. He didn't do genetic alteration. So all there was left was Doctor Genus. It made sense. He was a rumoured absolute genius, supposedly able to recover his own youth. Of course, it was a rumour, and I didn't care for it much. Other than Genus, there was something about this Kabuto guy and just hearing about him that pissed me off. Then again, this was the guy who hurt Genos, so it was justifiable.

"It was like with the mosquito monster, I underestimated my opponent's power. Had Saitama-sensei not been there, I would most certainly have been destroyed." There was nothing said after that, so I assumed he was done.

I frowned, balancing my clipboard over my stomach. He would have been destroyed, huh? I sighed. I wasn't about to go on a rant myself. Being angry or sarcastic wouldn't do Genos any good, especially if he was ashamed of himself after being defeated, and I knew he was. He was only trying to cover it up by boasting about Saitama. I tapped my pen against the board anxiously. "Well, I'm just glad you're okay, yeah?"

"Jade," he sighed, "you need to understand. This is the second time Sensei has saved my life. You and Doctor Kuseno have already restored my life to me. Later, Saitama-sensei saved my life, and has now done it again. Not only that, but he said something interesting back at the House of Evolution that had me thinking." He paused to take a breath. "He said that the power of human beings was that they can change themselves on their own." His breath hitched slightly as he lifted his arm up to gaze at it. "Was I perhaps too rash in choosing to become a cyborg?"

"That's not something you can beat yourself up over," I suddenly spoke up in a soft voice, yet clear all the same. Genos's arm dropped as he looked my way in anticipation. "You were near death, you said it already. Doctor Kuseno was the one to save your life that first time, and if you hadn't chosen something, you would have gone through a slow death. Just because you're a cyborg now too doesn't make you any less human. You've just got to depend on the doctor and me to help you with whatever you need."

The atmosphere was still quite somber. Well, if anything was going to bring Genos's spirits back up… "Look, I probably shouldn't be telling you thin in case Doctor Kuseno wanted to keep it as a surprise, but he's got a new pair of arms in development, and let me tell you they look nasty! There are so many new augmentations in this pair, it'll definitely make you stronger. I can't guarantee how powerful you'll really be, but I'd bet with those bad boys, you just might be stronger than Saitama!" I finished with a pleased grin. I wondered how much trouble I'd get in for telling him. I probably stole all of Doctor Kuseno's thunder.

"Wow…" Genos breathed.

"Although, I've gotta say," I chuckled, shaking my head at myself. "You must want some sort of bromance with this guy if all you're going to do is talk about him when you come back for repairs!"

His expression changed in an instant as he glared at me with the darkest of expressions.

I ruined the moment. I totally ruined the moment for the guy that I promised myself wasn't going to be sarcastic with. I laughed hysterically, supporting my weight on one of the back tables. "Whoo, anyway," I redirected my attention. I still had a job to do, after all. "I think I've got everything listed down. I just need Haf to perform a scan if you don't mind."

He was still peeved with me, that much was apparent, but he allowed it anyway. "Alright, Haf, if you will," I said, hand once again to my ear piece. I waited for the light to enter from the ceiling, but it never came. I frowned. "Haf, what's going on, bud?"

"Is something wrong?" Genos asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Haf?"

After moments of waiting, Haf finally chimed in. Not from the lab's speakers which was peculiar. They knew Genos was in the room and most likely also wanted to know was was going on. No, instead Haf was on my earpiece only. _"Ma'am, there seems to be an error in the projector's system. I cannot access the lights, nor can I access the computer mainframe."_

"What about the equipment, does any of that work, your access or no?"

 _"They are not functioning, no."_

I cursed under my breath. This wasn't good. All of the equipment we actually had to repair Genos was compatible with the facility's computers, so we had them connected at all times. Of course, we never had the computers operate the equipment because Genos wasn't comfortable with it, however, they wouldn't function properly unless they were connected. Since that was the case, I wouldn't be able to repair Genos.

Briskly, I walked to a computer, trying to log in. Entering the password easily, I was confronted with a large, "ACCESS DENIED," banner.

"What the hell…?" I muttered. Nothing like that had ever happened before. I never needed a second attempt. I entered my password in again just to be certain. The same result.

"What's going on?" Genos asked, walking up from behind me, clothes back on.

I shook my head. "I don't know, the computer won't let me log on. It's weird." I hummed, thinking about what we could do. "Can you get the doctor? He must know something."

He nodded, walking back to the section of the facility Doctor Kuseno should have been in. As he did that, I attempted to enter my password a few more times. None of them worked, even when I tried my sub-accounts. I ruffled my hair. This was ridiculous! Why didn't any of them work?! "Haf, can you try and get through with my phone? Go through the internet, then access the router and see where you can go from there. If it's some sort of malware, slip by as undetected as possible."

Haf notified me they were going to start as soon as possible, though it would take some time. In waiting, the doctor and Genos entered the room at a hurried pace. They both knew something was wrong. Extremely wrong.

"What's the problem?" Doctor Kuseno asked.

"Haf can't access anything in the lab. Lights, computers, tools, anything! I tried getting on the computer, but it keeps denying me access." I grumbled. There was never a time when trouble shooting was needed, especially not by the doctor. I could usually handle this myself.

He typed in his password easily, but the same banner came up. "That's strange…" He murmured. Again, and again, no matter how many time he tried, it was always the same result.

During the time Doctor Kuseno got frustrated as well, Haf finally notified me what was happening. As they spoke in my earpiece, my eyes widened. Genos noticed, and immediately asked what was wrong. I never thought it would happen, especially to us. The doctor looked my way as well with alarmed curiosity.

Despairingly, I whispered. "We're hacked."

* * *

 **So, how about that? What do you guys think? I think my favourite part of this chapter to write was the dream sequence with the dragons. It has so much more symbolization than you guys might know. Of course, the full meaning of it won't come until much, much later! Until then, feel free to guess who those dragons are. This is also part one of two in this first original arc. I don't know if this really qualifies as an arc if it has two chapters detailing it, but I do write a pretty moderate amount. Unlike the anime, Genos is not comfortable with being repaired by the computers, if I haven't made that obvious enough, but it will be fully explained in the next chapter. I was planning on getting the next chapter out in two weeks, but that might not be possible because I do have exams. Other than that, tell me your thoughts on this chapter! I would love to hear them!**

 **Thank you to those who reviewed for the last two chapters, you are amazing! There was this one I would specifically like to point out from Knight of elves. The part in question, "I would love to have her create a drone or some thing similar that would allow her to witness all the events that occur in the OP-man world." You almost predicted what my plan was! Of course, Jade will have more than enough chances to witness the canon OPM events. Do with that what you will.**

 **Reviews are love and motivation!**


	4. The Artificial Intelligence

" _I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter." - Winston Churchill_

* * *

The lab was eerily silent, save for Doctor Kuseno and me rushing to a new computer every so often. It was a disaster. Every computer and computer connected device was hacked. No access whatsoever or simply not working at all. Nothing we could possibly do on our end would reverse this unless Haf had found a solution, and a solution or notification had not come yet. It could take from seconds to hours, and I was leaning towards the hours part of it.

I contemplated getting my laptop in my bag. I could connect easily, however there was no software on it that could trace or counter our attackers. Maybe I could pop in a few codes, but in the end it wouldn't do much but get my laptop infected too, which was one of the last things we needed. "How did they hack us so easily?" I muttered to myself, hair sticking in every other direction from how much I was ruffling it up. It didn't make much sense. We had some of the best protective software in the world since it was programmed by the old man. That meant someone as or more intelligent than the doctor was our hacker, or… "Must've been those goddamn chain mails…" The ones about bad luck, and the evil dolls who come to kill you in your sleep if you didn't send it to fifteen of your contacts. The funny thing about getting chain mails was that I never had enough contacts to send it to, so I was never, "safe." And now it was probably the thing to come back and bite me in the ass. I huffed. Yeah, it was definitely the chain mails.

I was very close to biting my nails. Not only did the equipment require the computers to work, but we had very important files saved, and it most certainly wouldn't be good if we lost those. Those files contained information about Genos's external and internal structure as a cyborg, as well as documents on various arms, and secrets concerning almost everything in the lab.

Staring at the monitor screen with those very two annoying words on the banner, I thought. Maybe I could code in a override sequence. It wouldn't get our files safe, but it would ensure the hackers couldn't access this computer after what they did. I slumped in my seat, hiding my head in my arms. But there was no access point to code a sequence because I _couldn't log on._ This was extremely frustrating. No matter what I thought up of, or what solutions there might have been, there was always the one problem of not being able to enter from the first screen. If I had a pillow to scream into, I was sure I'd have the problem solved within the hour.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and looked over to see Genos. "I might be able to help," he stated. I raised a brow. In what way? "I can enter the system with my neurological processor chip and trace our attackers. Then, I can counter them."

My eyes widened, realizing what kind of move he was proposing, then narrowed hard. "Do you know how stupid that is?!" I hissed, fully turning towards him. "Your brain might be human, but your core system isn't! They could access your full system without you knowing! We don't need computer and biohackers on our hands!" I put a finger to his chest, pointing it at him in defiance. He glowered, affronted. I released a rigid breath, dropping my hand. "Remember when I said to depend on me and the doctor for whatever you need, just like five minutes ago?" He nodded with a, "yes." "Well this is one of those things you need to depend on us for. You might be out there fighting monsters, but the lab is our turf, and hell if we're about to keel over just cause some bastard decided to attack. This is _our_ battle."

Despite being upset at my initial reaction, he seemed satisfied with my final answer. "Alright," he said, lips quirking upwards slightly, almost unnoticeable. He was pleased with me. I smiled crookedly in return. "I'll leave you to your fight. What am I meant to do in the meantime?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, we can't really have you doing any monster hunting with you unrepaired. Anything, really, I suppose. I wouldn't recommend going out, though."

"Maybe I can call Sensei to help?" He wondered aloud, a hand holding his chin contemplatively. Was he serious?

My face was blank, a dark cloud rolling over my head. "As commendable as his strength is," I said carefully, "I don't think Saitama can help us in our situation." I wasn't in the mood for random key mashing, or having the computers punched out. Of course breaking the computers meant we could get new ones, but it also meant important files were lost either way. I wasn't up for losing those files. In a battle of pure brawn, yeah, Saitama would be great. In a battle of brains…

"You're right," Genos sighed. "Sensei has shown disinterest in weak opponents. He would be bothered if I called him to help us with this hacker. They would not put up a fight suitable for someone as great as he is."

I stared at him intently, trying to decipher what he meant. Did he really want Saitama to physically punch our attacker…? I coughed. Of course that was what Genos wanted. "I have Haf working on something right now, they're trying to find our person via the internet. I won't get results in a few, but I'll tell you when they come in."

"Right," he said, before walking off to talk to the doctor. I was surprised he didn't put up more of a protest at the use of Haf. Then again, in our state, there wasn't much we could do unless it was with Haf. Then there was the flat out refusal of using Genos. We weren't about to risk someone irreplaceable.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something on the ceiling shift. There was a small flare of reflecting light too. Slowly, I turned my head. I scowled. It was one of the security cameras. Which meant our hacker had full access to all of our facility, it wasn't simply limited to the lab. I ruffled my hair near my ear, muttering a few obscenities under my breath. "...can't take this bull anymore… looking weak… helpless… acting like an evil half…" Underhanded, necessary, and extremely important.

Suddenly, there was a new development on screen. Instead of the large banner, it was a bunch of gray text on a black background. Not simply text though, it was binary code.

" _01010011011101010110001101100011011001010111001101110011011001100111010101101100011011000111100100100000011000100111001001100101011000010110001101101000011001010110010000100000011101000110100001100101001000000110001101101000011000010110110001101100011001010110111001100111011001010111001001011100001001110111001100100000011011100110010101110100011101110110111101110010011010110000101001001100011011110110111101101011011010010110111001100111001000000110011001101111011100100111011101100001011100100110010000100000011101000110111100100000011001010110111001110100011001010111001001101001011011100110011100100000011101000110100001100101001000000100000101001001001000000110111001100101011110000111010000001010010101000110100001100101011011100010000001110100011010000110010100100000011100000110100001111001011100110110100101100011011000010110110000100000011000110110100001100001011011000110110001100101011011100110011101100101011100100000101001001110011001010111011100100000011100000111001001101111011010100110010101100011011101000010000001101001011011100110100101110100011010010110000101110100011010010110111001100111,"_

My eyes scanned over each individual number. I didn't know what it meant, but I figured it was no good. I called Genos and Doctor Kuseno over to look at it, to see if they could decrypt this mess. Once they reached the computer however, the code disappeared. They were able to see it as a brief glimpse only. "I can look into my data banks," Genos's iris shifted, no doubt analyzing the code from memory and translating it. Then it stopped, his irises returning to normal. He glared at seemingly nothing, his fists tightening, if the sound of metal scratching was any note. "My sensors are too damaged to analyze the code properly…"

Doctor Kuseno patted Genos's back comfortingly. "There's no need to get worked up over it. I'm sure we'll come up with a viable answer sooner or later." He walked back to a computer he was trying to crack down.

Genos took the chair beside me, putting his head in his knees, and released a long breath. I sympathized. There wasn't much to do but wait, and I was tired of waiting. I was much too impatient. I scoffed, tapping my foot against the ground. I thought about checking in on Haf's progress, absentmindedly brushing my hair behind my ear, when I felt a spark. I pulled back my hand immediately, swearing and shaking it off.

"Are you okay?" Genos asked, noticing how I was thrashing my arm around violently. I placed some pressure on the tip of the finger that got shocked, grouchily.

"Peachy," I muttered. Something was different. Nothing about my earpiece was supposed to malfunction, especially not like that. Haf was the only one who could do anything with it. I tapped it a few times, like it would help somehow. "Haf?" I asked uncertainly. Static blasted abruptly in my ear, making me wince horribly, and on instinct, I tossed my earpiece away from myself, holding my hands over my mouth.

Genos became concerned, jumping up from his chair and put a hand on my shoulder. "What happened?"

I shook my head fearfully, shrugging his hand off to stare at the sparking earpiece on the floor. "Th-that's not supposed to happen," I stuttered. "Haf's not responding and just when I asked them, static went off like a bomb in my ear," I took out my phone, seeing if I could get Haf on there. I tapped the main screen multiple times, waiting for them, until Haf's voice came on sounding broken and filled with white noise.

" _... bReacH-ed… weAk… tasK… ComPle-Te…"_

And from there, there were no other messages. Complete eerie, uneasy silence.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Whispered Genos, amongst the dreary atmosphere.

Meanwhile, I was hoping for something more from Haf. "Haf?" I murmured softly, realizing what this might have meant. My voice became hard and demanding; a creator to her creation. "Don't do this to me, bud, we still have a long way to go, right? You're not done yet, do you hear me?" I started shouting. "You're not done yet! I won't let you be done! Override your protocol statement, code 324492!"

He placed his hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner. "Jade," he sounded like he gave up. I knew he hated Haf and all, but Genos knew how resilient Haf was, and there was no reason to give up, not on my A.I.

I whipped my head around to meet his, angrily. "No, I know what you're implying, but it's not true! Haf is not-!" I wasn't going to say it. If I said it, it would mean it was a possibility, and it was _not_ a possibility.

Aware of my distress, Doctor Kuseno marched over to see Genos's poor attempts at consoling me, with me having wetness appear in my eyes. "What happens to be the problem?"

I swallowed loudly, prepared to tell him, when Genos cut in. "It seems the hacker has terminated Haf."

"No they haven't!" I yelled in denial. "Haf is not dead!" I gestured to my phone desperately. "I can prove it, see! Haf, respond!" Nothing. "Haf!? Haf!" The both of them looked at me with pity, pity I didn't want, pity I didn't want to see.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. "HAF!"

* * *

"My dad used to take me fishing all the time because he claimed I never got enough sun. He and mom always complained how I never left the garage, and they said how I never got enough exercise. Personally, I think I had more than enough physical activity. They just didn't know how it felt to lift a few hundred kilograms of tungsten carbide sheets and other metal alloys."

No reply.

The silence was unnerving, so I decided to fill it the only way I knew how: talking. It wasn't very helpful for myself that I decided to talk about my family, in fact it was painful, but the kid kept going in and out of consciousness for a few hours now, and I felt obligated to help him somehow, even if it was only me rambling to a brick wall. I didn't know if he remembered me introducing myself when he first woke up and fell unconscious, but I didn't really care. All I cared about was that I was keeping him company. I couldn't imagine what sense of loneliness he might have felt if he had woken up alone.

"So, anyway," I sighed, trying to think of anything else I could rant about. "I haven't told you about how I got into engineering, have I? Well, I guess it just sort of started, you know? I was really young when I was found to have a love for building and solving problems, and it just evolved from there, really. I loved it so much I wanted to learn more, and you know dad used to make the dumbest jokes about me having a big brain, even if it was true, so I skipped a few grades because of my big brain. Let's see it was," I counted on my fingers to keep track of how many grades I actually skipped, "kindergarten, grade one, grade four, grade ten, and then I went to various universities and colleges from there." I chuckled humorlessly. "I never knew how my parents could afford sending me to the schools. We pinched pennies almost all the time, and I remember mom always scolding me because I was tempted to buy something that wasn't on sale, and I'd reply, 'but mom, these metals are rare, of course they aren't on sale!' And she'd say, 'honey, that's nice, but it's expensive. Now put it away, and I won't have to drag you to the car when you're crying and screaming.' But they'd always support my passion, no matter what. And the next thing I knew, the metal I wanted came to me on the next holiday, or sometime in the next two months." There was much too much talk about family, I couldn't bear it. No matter what I was going to say, it was somehow going to redirect itself back to them. "They were too nice," I muttered, feeling tears well up.

As I took in a breath to begin speaking once more, he started coughing violently, and his heart rate picked up on the monitor. He was conscious, hopefully for longer this time. I shot up almost instantly, and I would have stood up to run to the ventilation system if I weren't bound to my wheelchair. I pushed myself to the other side of his bed, looking at the screen. I deflated, realizing there wasn't much I could do to help him, he just needed to ride out his coughing fit. "W-what…?" He questioned incoherently, eyes opened to reveal a mint green, overshadowed by his state.

Gently removing his ventilation mask, I put on my best grin, rolling myself closer to his bed. "Hey," I said softly, "I'm so glad you're awake. I'm Jade Valles," I introduced myself, putting a hand to my chest. "I don't know if you really remember, but we met for a brief moment a few days ago, before you fell unconscious. I never got to ask, what's your name?" I never had an opportunity to ask Doctor Kuseno, either.

His eyes traced all over my face, then going to my lower body; my wheelchair. I tried not to grimace. He looked so confused, like a lost puppy, my heart almost broke. "Genos…" He stated weakly.

It was so hard to smile, but I did it anyway, closing my eyes to hopefully close him off from what I was emoting through them. "It's so nice to meet you, Genos." I pushed myself to the secluded area of the lab. "I should probably tell Doctor Kuseno that you're awake." I whispered.

"W-wait," he protested, eyes widening the slightest bit. "I remember you..." I turned myself around to face him. "You were the woman who was yelling about everyone being killed."

I lowered my head in shame. Yeah, that sounded like it was me. Had I possibly passed by Genos when I was trying to spread the message? ...I should have done a better job to warn them all. Thinking about it, I really failed them. I failed Genos. "Yeah," I bobbed my head, bangs shadowing my eyes.

" _M_ _a'am, I would advise retrieving the doctor,"_ Haf cut in from the speakers.

Genos jumped, hissing in pain from moving too much. "Take it easy," I murmured, rolling to his side to see if any wounds reopened. It was hard to see if any of them had, his whole body was like a giant scab.

"Who is that?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"It's not really a matter of who," I said, the corners of my mouth rising little by little, "it's more of a matter of what. That's Haf, my homemade artificial intelligence." Adding in a little louder, I spoke up to Haf, "actually, sorry for calling you a what, Haf, you're way more like a who!"

" _My utmost thanks, ma'am."_ Haf replied monotonously.

I snorted, jabbing my thumb vaguely to the ceiling. "See, they're a riot."

Whatever expression was locked on his face disappeared, instead being replaced by blazing curiosity. "What else can… Haf do?" He tested their name in his lips.

I shrugged, not knowing how to answer to that. "A lot of things, I suppose. In fact," I mumbled. "Haf, give me a small description of my injuries." It wasn't only for showing off, I was curious about Haf's analysis of my leg.

" _Injuries, 20 in total. Major injuries include: broken leg 2% healed, cut over pancreas to pelvic bone 6% healed. Minor injuries include: fractured bones in both legs, left arm, and chest, 3% healed. In total, your body is 31% healed."_ So, the six week span wasn't that far off. 69% to go. " _M_ _a'am, I've taken the liberty of retrieving the doctor myself."_ They added.

I nodded approvingly. "If you have any questions about Haf, feel free to ask." I told him. It would be a small while until the Doctor Kuseno entered the room as he had been doing some last minute work, so I decided to talk more, only I couldn't think of what to talk about. Maybe speaking to a brick wall was easier than talking to him awake, because thinking of it now, I spilled a lot of subjects of which I yearned to vent about for a long time, and hadn't spoken to with anyone else. If he was awake, it felt as though there was a limit to what there was to say.

He looked at me expectantly when I realized I hadn't even heard him. I was too caught up in my own thoughts. "I'm sorry, what?"

"...Why is your artificial intelligence named Haf?"

I smiled, reminiscing about that stupid time when I first created Haf. "It's pretty dumb," I said scratching my cheek, "and I was pretty young when I named Haf, but their name is supposed to be a play on words. At first Haf was only a calculator program I made and coded, but I wanted to go further, and eventually made them into a fully fledged A.I, which was also when I finally named them. I decided that if I ever made an A.I, they would be better than me in what characteristics I lacked. Haf is more patient than I am, smarter, rational… Haf was made to be my better half." I heard a small scoff. "I told you, play on words!" The first time I found out what a pun was, and I found out I had named one of my greatest creations after a pun, my reaction was more than hysterical.

"I'm surprised at the origins of Haf's name," Genos's eyes trailed behind me, and I looked around to see the doctor with a witty grin.

I waved an arm. "Yeah, yeah, I was eight, don't blame me." I looked back towards the blond on the bed, and then back to Doctor Kuseno. "So doc, what's the verdict on our little resident here?" How much longer would he be human?

He moved to mine and Genos's side. "Well," he breathed, "it's taken me several days, but I've finally finished the preparations and am ready to begin the process. The question, however, are you, Genos?"

I saw his fist clench slowly, almost unsure of how much of a sensation he would feel from it. His resolve was steeled, I could feel it. "I'm ready," he said firmly. No matter how much I wanted to deter him from his decision, something was stopping me. It was him, himself. He was going to do this, he _wanted_ to do this. It was crazy, it was madness! But no matter my thoughts, he had the same look in his eyes that I did; the one that was prepared to do anything it took to reach a goal.

I sighed. "So you finished the preparations for his body, but do you need me to set anything up in here?" I wasn't going to do nothing. I wanted to help, even if it was just a little.

The old man's eyes crinkled in concern, and he shook his head. "You're meant to be recovering, not working." I felt as though he was still crossed with me, or at least a little bit upset from the interaction we had once I had woken up. It had been a few days since then, and we each did our part to mend what little ties we had broken off, but it felt different, and I didn't know if I liked it.

"Well," I shrugged, "it's not like I'm going to take no for an answer, you might as well let me do something. Let me lift a few things, it won't hurt me anymore than I already am."

"That is exactly what I'm worried about," he muttered, yet he conceded all the same.

I was allowed to help organize the area while the good doctor prepped for the operation. Between moving boxes and tools, Genos seemed to lie and take in everything that was about to happen. He was about to be turned into a cyborg when he next woke up. As curious as I was, I didn't want to ask why he made such a sacrificial decision. His own body looked as though it would never recover from what horrors it went through, so for the sake of himself and survival it was a valid enough reason. Or… I frowned. Being a cyborg meant augmentations in almost every human quality he had, which could also mean being more deadly. Was he planning to turn himself into a weapon? For revenge? I couldn't judge him, otherwise I'd be a hypocrite. I wanted revenge too.

"Is Haf sentient?" My back straightened up in surprise, then I smiled. He really had the most interesting of questions about my Haf. I chuckled a bit. I was glad he was interested.

"I tried to make an artificial intelligence closest to that of a human, so what I want to say is yes, but honestly I don't know." I rolled myself around to face him, moving closer to his side as I was just about done with organizing. His question made me curious, however. "Hey, Haf, how do you feel about everyone in the facility?"

It took only a second of processing. " _The doctor is extremely intelligent and generous, as exemplified by taking ma'am in. He is also grandfatherly as you have often said so under your breath. Doctor Kuseno is therefore set to high standards."_ I must have coded in something about Haf being able to draw their own conclusions somewhere in their program, I just had no recollection of when I did it.

" _From our brief introduction, I believe Mister Genos is a serious and cautious individual. He is quite hesitant, as shown in asking about me. He has also demonstrated a strong sense of determination and courage. More about Mister Genos is yet to be seen."_ His demeanour seemed to puff up with pride, and I couldn't help but grin. He was definitely satisfied with Haf's analysis of him.

" _As for you, ma'am, you are intelligent and well put together. You have demonstrated feats of extreme kindness, bravery, and awe. You are truly amazing, ma'am."_ Haf was just buttering me up, and I knew for a fact I never coded flattery into their program. ...They must have done it themself when I authorized them a time of self reparation once I had made them more advanced… The little turd…

"Haf, you're supposed to be my better half by correcting me, not praising me," I said, rubbing my temple. I would make sure to change their coding a bit later. It didn't mean I didn't appreciate a compliment, it just meant it seemed narcissistic if it was coming from my very own creation.

Genos scoffed again as the old man came strolling in with a large case, taller than he was. My eyes narrowed on it. It was large enough to contain a body. He must have covered up the endoskeleton to keep Genos from being too freaked out. A good call. "Jade, if you would kindly put Genos on the anesthetic gas."

"Of course," I nodded. I saw Genos tense slightly, and I rolled up to him, to hopefully offer reassurance. "Hey, there's no reason to be worried! Just trust in the good doctor, and you'll be fine." With what very little I had said, he took it well, and nodded with a hard resolve. As I moved to the ventilation system, I made sure to administer xenon gas. It was generally rare among the medical world because of how expensive it was, but thankfully Doctor Kuseno had the funds, and highly developed systems so the gas was recyclable. I was also thankful he taught me some things like I had hoped for during our time together, even if I did question medical knowledge at first (he had said it was supposed to be a precaution if I ever hurt myself with equipment, saying he wanted me to know what procedures he'd perform on me, the sly geezer). "See you when you're up," tenderly, I placed the mask on Genos's face, and his eyes slowly lidded. He was out.

I looked back to Doctor Kuseno and found him opening the case. "Do I want to be here for this?" I asked hesitantly. I felt reluctant to view or do anything about the operation.

The case fully opened, the full glory of the endoskeleton was there. It looked like an android, and I was honestly quite intimidated by it. "Frankly, I'm uncertain if you want to be in the same building right now," he seemed to joke. I wasn't able to decide if I wanted to take him seriously or not.

"That's comforting," I muttered distastefully. "What I mean is, do you need my help?"

He slumped a fraction. Was it really going to be that bad? ...Actually, I didn't want to know the answer to that question. "I don't believe it's necessary, no. However, I do want you to know what it takes to create a proper cyborg. You won't be participating in the operation, but I do want you to watch. You still want to learn from me, yes?" He waited for me to nod, and I did so. "Then you will be by my side during the process."

"Understood," I swallowed.

Generally, the entire operation was gruesome and disgusting, and I'm certain I forgot most of the remaining imagery in my head, but I did learn very valuable information, such as how the metal version of the glenohumeral joint and the elbow joint connected with a series of wire, nuts and bolts. Not to mention the rest of the body, but again, I was less than delighted by the images it resulted in. In the end, I was certain I had seen enough blood to last me a good while.

"I-I'll get this cleaned up," I stammered, maneuvering my chair around the crimson liquid resting on the floor, passing by the new cyborg. So that was Genos now. Thankfully, Doctor Kuseno had added in a face plate, so it hadn't looked as though I was staring at a metal face which was staring back at me. Instead, the synthetic skin was realistic and actually looked like that of a human. The only thing that was unnerving to me were his eyes. No longer were they mint green, instead the scleras were black, and the irises were gold. It made sense, but it hadn't made it any less creepy. The ocular sensors were too large to reach around the iris only, which was why it affected the entire eye instead of the one part. Having black scleras was still a bit strange, in my opinion. At the moment, his eyes were closed, so I had less to worry about.

Among my thoughts, I reached out for a bucket and a mop in the supply closet, making sure to fill it with warm water and soap. I briefly wondered how I was going to attempt mopping while in a wheelchair, but it must have been possible, so there was no harm in trying. It would be like land kayaking, I supposed with a small snicker.

Red lights spun around the ceiling abruptly, the alarms going off along with it. Fear struck me. Were we being attacked?! "Haf, what the hell's going on?!" I shouted, dropping the bucket which clattered to the floor noisily, the majority of the water having spilt over my cast. I moved as fast as I could to the lab, and stopped in shock.

" _Potential threat found in lab. Level seven. Code 8463 commencing."_

I was petrified, sitting there as still as stone. Genos seemed to be strangling himself with his new body, which shouldn't have been doing or undergoing anything major. His cries of pain resounding off of the lab's walls, as the doctor frantically tried to figure out how to disable Haf's security system. My hands came up to cover my mouth briefly, then realizing Doctor Kuseno didn't know the signals I had with Haf just yet, I knew had to do something. "Haf, stop your protocal! Code 072991!"

Slowly, Genos's arms lowered, and lay on the table beside himself, staring at me with a look of what I could only describe with the word betrayal. He had trusted me for a moment, and it felt like that trust just disappeared. And what curiosity and interest he had in Haf was broken.

* * *

"Genos, let go of me," I whimpered. "Just let go..."

He refused, keeping his hands square on my shoulders as I wiped at my eyes. After my initial breakdown, Genos led me to my desk where I wouldn't bother the doctor as he tried to further crack down our hacker on his own. Genos was right to bring me out here, I would have been a burden otherwise. "Not until you've calmed down," he replied sternly. It would be a long while, then.

I was a wreck. My hair was all over the place, much like the cyborg's, my face was stained with tears, my eyes were puffy, and my face was scarlet red. Haf was not dead. I would deny it until my very own death. Haf would never die. It didn't matter what the doctor or Genos thought, because my A.I would not die, not on me, and most certainly not like that.

"Just breathe," he ordered. I did so reluctantly, releasing shaky, miserable breaths. Once my breathing was once again even, his arms dropped from my shoulders and asked, "are you feeling better?"

I looked away from him. "No," I said bluntly. How could I be feeling any better? In fact, what would he know about what I was feeling? (A lot)

He patted my arm awkwardly. Obviously, he had no experience in helping someone who was grieving, especially not for someone who was close to him. Then again, we were never really emotional supports for each other in the first place. I mean, of course we talked to each other if we were bothered about something and needed to vent desperately, but it felt routine and not really there. During each repair session in which I was the lead, I'd get pissed at him for getting so damaged, then he'd glare at me, and then he'd talk about how he got the way he was. It made me more pissed, only it wasn't at him, it was against the people he fought. If I wasn't lead, then the doctor would explain to me while I sketched out something new, or worked on something old, and yet it still got my gears grinding.

I hated feeling useless, and knowing I might have done something to cause less damage to come to Genos made me realize how much I also hated always being on the sidelines, not being able to do anything until it was over. I hated uselessness, and I hated having to be out here instead of actively helping Doctor Kuseno.

We stayed there for a few moments in silence, leaning on my desk. Genos seemed to take more of an interest in looking at what sketches I made, however. He didn't say anything, only ruffling through the sheets, not asking any questions. "Hey," I asked suddenly. He looked up. "Can you get me my phone?" Genos looked at me suspiciously, probably thinking if that course of action would me me any worse. Grudgingly, he granted me request. It was an annoying question, I knew it all too well, but he really didn't know what I was trying to do.

"Underhanded, necessary, and important," I reminded myself with a small smirk. It was all I needed to know.

When Genos came back with my phone in tow, he handed it to me, and I thanked him gratefully, making sure there was still a tone of sorrow in there. "What do you plan to do with it?" He asked. Since Haf… wasn't functioning, it must have seemed like there wasn't anything I could do.

I looked near the corner of the ceiling, and soon enough, Genos's eyes follow to where mine were directed. The camera shifted towards us lazily. I frowned. "We should probably take this back to the lab," I said warily. Genos agreed.

Doctor Kuseno was immediately curious as to why we reentered the scene. I put my phone to my mouth. "Activate." Immediately, the banners that had said access denied on our monitors disappeared, and we were logged on. What files our hacker had viewed couldn't be unseen, but they hadn't stolen any files and hadn't corrupted any of them either. The camera swung my way agitatedly.

"What did you do?" Doctor Kuseno gasped. Genos's face was similar, if a little less shocked than the doctor.

"This is what I meant by Haf wasn't dead, isn't that right Haf?"

Like music to my ears, Haf's voice was on the speakers, responding clear as day, no static infused whatsoever. " _You are correct, ma'am."_

Noting both of their sentiments of confusion, and the camera still on me, I decided I might as well explain. "Let me make this clear for all of us here, Haf's so called 'death,' was a ploy. Haf was the key competitor here for our hackers, if Haf was taken out of the picture, then we had nothing to counter them with. We would be helpless. Once I noticed our hacker had visuals on us, I knew something had to be done, even if it was reckless, even if it cost me my very own creation. Haf's broken sounding message wasn't referring to us. It was referring to them." I pointed to the camera. "Haf breached their network when they let their guard down, completely undetected. Right now, they can't access any of their devices and can only view us. The spark in my earpiece? A message from Haf. Haf had the whole operation under control. I just had to play my part." I finished smugly. Who knew those high school drama classes would come in handy someday? "Haf, shut them down."

" _Right away."_ The camera dropped for a moment, then picked back up. I grinned. We had our stuff back.

I slumped suddenly, as both the doctor and resident cyborg made way for me. "Jade, are you alright?" Doctor Kuseno asked.

My grin turned tired, as I waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, that just took more out of me than I thought it would. I'm exhausted." I sighed, hoping to expel some of my exhaustion. "...Doctor, they weren't actively trying to corrupt any of our files or network. They just wanted to see what we had. Haf managed to find some code in their network because apparently it's all encrypted, and the only text it said was, 'the org.' Does that mean anything?"

"I'm not sure," he said truthfully, rubbing his chin. "Well, let's be thankful not much harm was done. Genos, why don't you set yourself up for your repairs?"

"Right," he nodded, scurrying off to his repair room.

A layer of silence passed by both of us remaining in the roo,.

"Aren't you going to follow him?" I inquired, watching the old man return to one of the computers, his back to me.

"No," he replied. "I'm going to review all of our files, just to be certain. ...I made you the lead for this one, didn't I?" I could feel his teasing grin despite not seeing it.

"I need sleep!" I cried, marching off to Genos, anyway. And the doctor chuckled.

 **This one was quite the challenging one to write. Figures I make the first original arc the one that I found the most difficult. I hope you guys were interested in this, and if you weren't please give me some feedback as to why! Also, if you found Genos a bit OOC, please leave a review and help me out! I always want to improve myself!**

 **Shout out to Mattricole who guessed Bofoi and the organization despite it only being the organization. Or maybe it was both and Bofoi just let them take the fall? Who knows? Both Bofoi and the organization are quite the mysteries, so I wanted to include them somehow, even if it was in this sort of chapter.**

 **Also that bit in binary code translates to:**

 **Successfully breached the challenger's network**

 **Looking forward to entering the AI next**

 **Then the physical challenger**

 **New project initiating**

 **Translating words into numbers is fun!**

 **Extra:**

* * *

Later in the evening, I was rolling around myself. It didn't make sense! What was it!? I was almost killing myself over my own wonderings. It seemed impossible! Hell, I had the very right might to call it impossible!

How did 100 sit ups, push ups, squats, and a 10km run equate to having one shot KO's!?

"What are you doing?" His voice was monotonous and no doubt irritated with me.

"It doesn't make sense!" I yelped. "How the hell does that make sense!?"

Genos shook his head, continuing to write down on that stupid sheet. "I decided not to question it and find data on my own."

I groaned, placing my hands over my eyes. "What are you even writing, anyway?" I asked, trying to get my mind off of it. I'd let my mind explode later.

"It's the registry form for the Heroes' Association."

I blanked. "Since when were you interested in that?"

"Sensei said that if I registered with him, he would officially make me his disciple."

A bribe then? Leaning in closer to take a look at his form, I thought venomously that I was tired of the sidelines. It just might have been my perfect chance.

I turned away abruptly to sneeze, and rubbed my nose. I really hoped I didn't have a cold coming on.

* * *

 **Well, well, well! What are you doing Jade?**

 **Reviews are love and motivation!**


	5. Monky Business

" _Your smile will give you a positive countenance that will make people feel comfortable around you." - Les Brown_

* * *

The newly made cyborg was more reclusive than ever. Well, no, not more than ever. Since meeting him, he seemed like he had been a bit of a recluse at first, but he was more of one now since… Haf… Anyway, the point was that he secluded himself, and it was understandable in all rights. No one could have been so much of a dumbass to think it wasn't understandable. The kid got his home destroyed and lost trust in two of the people he thought he could trust at first; the girl who comforted him, and her A.I which mistook him for a threat and almost choked him out with his own arms. It was a good thing he still had trust in the good doctor. If he didn't, he wouldn't feel safe in the facility, and if he didn't feel safe then he was always in danger. And always being in danger, and in fear something bad would always happen was no way to live.

He was alone for the most part, only allowing the doctor to be near him while he recuperated and did his own version of physiotherapy. He had an entire body to grow accustomed to, and who knew how long that would all really take? It could very well be years until he had all of his motor movements under control. His arms had taken the brunt of the damage, so those would be especially sore on his remaining human nerves, and especially difficult to take hold of.

I didn't mind being ignored by Genos. It was totally warranted. The only problem I had was reprogramming parts of Haf, and finding what caused them to go so psycho on me, what with attacking our new resident cyborg like that. They said it was the threat protocol, so if I were to program him in as an associate instead, he would be fine. Only thing was I'd need either a piece of his UI, or something that could register on Haf's sensors. For the doctor and me, we used thermal cameras to pick up on our presences. For Genos, it wouldn't be as easy. And for that I needed to speak to him, and if I was right, he wasn't going to be up for speaking. Not to me, at least.

I tapped lightly on the knee of my cast. My leg was irritating me. It was itchy, and it looked kind of red from the top on which I spilled water. Not only that, but my knee felt like shit. It was bad. Liquid kept running down my leg inside my cast, and I couldn't tell if it was the water, or if it was blood. I probably should have notified the doctor about this problem earlier, but I already screwed up with Haf. I didn't know if anyone wanted to talk to me at the moment.

I was about to ask Haf about the status on my injuries again, more specifically on my broken leg, but I realized I had suspended their activity temporarily as I worked on their reprogramming. Nothing was really going my way, it seemed. In any case, I did need to find a way to register Genos as good on Haf's terms. Haf had already made an analysis of him that was positive, so it must have meant something. It was only after the operation that Haf decided Genos was a threat. But that didn't make sense! He was just a cyborg, it wasn't like he…!

He had a weapons system built in, didn't he...? Damn it! ...Well, it made my job a little easier, as well as a little more challenging. At least now I knew the source of how Haf freaked, and I wouldn't need any of his UI. Now, I needed to know the model number of his built in weapons as well as their capabilities. Which, again I would have to talk to him about.

When did the doctor insert artillery into the model, I wondered scornfully. I was there beside him during the whole thing! Then again, I did try to block out most of it because of how vomit inducing it really was. I was probably looking away at the time when Doctor Kuseno inserted them. Looking away for a very long time. Or maybe the endoskeleton was a fighter model all along, and I just didn't give it enough attention. There were a lot of reasons that I could have missed it, all of which that were more than plausible. All that mattered, however, was that Genos was going to be okay around Haf.

My hands went down to my wheels to roll me backwards from my desk and computer. As great as coding was, it was long and tiring. Not a number, letter, symbol or command should have been out of place. Turning my chair around, I thought about what I planned to do. Really, all I needed to do was talk to Genos, but it wasn't that simple. There was so much more to it, like how he hated me at the moment. I wasn't certain he would even talk. Not to mention my heart raced anxiously at how it might have unfolded. I wasn't going to be an easy conversation, that much I could tell. But like all things, I thought pushing myself towards the door frame exiting from my little computer hub, it was best to get it over with.

About to pass the frame, suddenly, Doctor Kuseno popped out, not looking surprised at where I'd been for the past while. "So this is where you've been," he observed. I nodded curtly, intending to move past him. He held a hand out to stop me, and I looked up at him with a guilty expression. He knew what I was going to do. "I think it's best if you left him alone for a while," he murmured softly, thinking I'd be compliant.

I shook my head stubbornly. I was not going to be compliant. "Doctor, I found a way to make sure Haf doesn't attack Genos again, I just need a few things to make it complete, and until then, we won't have a security network." Haf _was_ the security network ever since I had found the doctor had gone without one as competent as Haf's was. There were even things in the facility that wouldn't work without Haf. That's how far ingrained they were into this place after only several weeks.

"It can wait," he argued, "we've gone without a security system before, and we haven't been attacked. It's alright." He was trying to console me, to coax me out of talking to Genos. It was probably the right decision, too, but I refused to budge.

I rolled myself backwards to gather some space in between us, and so I could properly look him in the eye. "With all due respect doctor, there's always a possibility, and everyone's in a fragile position as it is. We need Haf, and I want to make sure that when they're back online, they won't hurt Genos." My voice was shaking from how serious I took this. I wanted— _needed_ —to get this done.

"Haf doesn't always need to be operational. You can save this for another day." He frowned, and I wondered how much he didn't understand about how I really needed to get this done today.

I mirrored his expression, the only difference between us was that mine was filled with determination. "Sir," I addressed him formally for what seemed like the first time. His attention became more focused on me. I wasn't joking around. "If I don't do this today when I have the courage, then I won't be able to do it tomorrow when I don't. I need to do this now!"

He released an exasperated sigh. I had won, only barely though. "At least allow me to take a look at your leg before you do. You spilled water on it, didn't you?" My face was that of comedic shock. How did he know? "Frankly, it smells disgusting." He chuckled. ...That actually made a lot of sense. "Normally all it takes is drying it with a hair dryer, but I'm worried water might have seeped your cut too. It might be infected."

I nodded, conceding to that at least. I wasn't about to risk an infected wound, and it was good to have an actual medical update on my leg. Haf wasn't going to do it. The doctor pushed me to my room, making small talk to probably comfort me in case anything bad did come up.

"What were you doing earlier?" He asked.

"Reviewing Haf's coding and programming," I replied.

It sort of unfurled from there to where we talked about different ways of coding, and programming an advanced A.I. It was an interesting conversation to have with him, and it opened my eyes a little. The hard thing about creating and working with the development of an artificial intelligence was the amount of foresight that needed to be put into it. Creating a personality was an especially difficult task. Some might have believed that giving an A.I a personality was a bad thing, but I disagreed wholeheartedly. Humans were and are interesting creatures, and it all laid in our characteristics, which was why I wanted Haf to be as humanlike as possible. The good doctor had also found that tidbit interesting of me, because normally scientists and engineers didn't care for a personality in their creations, they only cared that they fulfilled a task, and did it efficiently. I was an anomaly, supposedly, because of how much more work I put on myself when things could have been so much more simple.

"Yeah, well, simple doesn't always mean it's worth it in the end," I grinned up at him. "I have an A.I and a friend, and I think that's more than worth it!"

Doctor Kuseno gave me his grandfatherly smile. "You really care about Haf, don't you?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "Of course I do! You've heard it already, haven't you? Haf's been with me since I was a kid, and I'm not about to let them go over some error in their programming!" I raised a fist, shaking it in the air fervently. I sighed, deflating into a calmer disposition. "They… they're too important for that, you know?" I trailed off, my voice becoming more hushed. Haf was precious, and meant the absolute world to me. I wasn't about to give up, especially not on them.

He hummed musingly. "If I hadn't known Haf wasn't human, I would have thought they were your child." He joked, chuckling at himself

I scoffed, smiling all the same. "Yeah, me, a mom. You know Haf is the one who moms me all the time, right? Coddles me like I'm still a kid."

"I'm not surprised," he breathed in a displeased tone. "You pull quite the reckless stunt every now and then." I could tell he was looking at my leg, and was probably thinking about my cut too. They fell into the same category of recklessness I'd committed to.

It wasn't something to be proud of, but still, "I'm not gonna deny that," I smiled crookedly, crossing my arms.

Soon enough, we entered the medical wing, and the doctor redirected the both of us into one of the rooms for my medical assessment. He had me move back onto the bed, which was admittedly, very difficult to do. With a few grunts and mumbles, it was manageable. Although, it sounded much more like I was breathing like a pregnant woman than struggling to pull myself up. Hee, haa, hoo, haa, hee, something or other. I then underwent various tests and questions per the doctor's orders.

Lift your leg as high as you can. Only about a few inches until it started to hurt. Can you bend your knee even slightly? No, it hurts to much. How does your knee feel? You know, now that you mention it, it stings like a bi—sorry, it stings a lot. That sort of thing. There were more technicalities, but I really didn't want to go through those details.

Then, we removed the gauze and bandages over my cut. It was slow, because, again, it was pretty painful. Some of the blood under my bandages had dried, and made a sort of adhesive bond between the gauze and my skin. I was cringing as I tried to pull it off myself, and the doctor insisted he find something to cut it off instead, but what I really needed to do was get it off as soon as possible. So I ripped it off like a bandaid, and no that pun wasn't intended.

From where my cut was located, I wasn't able to see the full extent of it's damage. I could only see the head of it, but it was still hard to look at, and by Doctor Kuseno's sharp frown, I was sure the rest of it wasn't very pretty either.

"Give it to me straight, doc," I tried to come off as nonchalant. It wasn't working very well through all my pain. "What's up with me?"

He wiped his forehead with a wet towel, and his expression became grave. "Do you want the good or the bad news first?" A cliché thing to say, but the way he said it held more weight than a normal cliché.

"I'll take a bite for the good news," I shrugged.

"Your cut is infected."

I choked from how bluntly he had said it. "Th-that's the good news?! Then what the hell's the bad news?!" It wasn't that I didn't think my wound was infected, it was just that I figured there would be better news than that. In fact, I should have suspected an infection earlier on from how badly stung, but I was just so busy with Haf, and I didn't want to bother anyone, so I thought I could tough it out. Turns out I was terribly wrong.

He folded his arms behind his back, posture becoming more stiff. "I made a severe underestimation of the healing process for your broken leg, and it's far more broken than I initially believed." It already didn't sound good, so really having an infected cut was the lesser of the two evils. I could see why that was the good news, now. "I hadn't given it enough attention at first, but it appears your leg has become more agitated with time, and it's essentially damaging your knee further." He sighed as though he was about to drop a bomb on me, which thinking about it, didn't seem too far off. "What I'm attempting to say is that you require knee replacement surgery."

My body seemed to shudder on its own accord as a mild panic set in. Surgery really had me anxious. The word itself was frightening. I swallowed roughly, attempting to get the words out through my thoughts which seemed to be going at the speed of sound. "So how long will it take to be fine and dandy again? And when do we start?"

"A period of two to four months, and as soon as you believe you're ready," he stated firmly.

I nodded in understanding, and with an idiotic, impulsive mindset, I decided. "Okay, I'm ready."

* * *

I sniffed, turning the axle clockwise a few times, and making sure there was enough space between it and the plasma cannon. I sniffed again, grabbing a tissue and putting it against my nose roughly, as I put the plating back over and secured it in place. It was a struggle, but slow and steady, right? I took the tissue from my face to look back at it in disgust, and threw it in the bin to keep myself from looking at it for any longer.

A few more finishing touches to the micro circuitry, magnets, and electrostatic lenses, and it was done. My greatest creation yet! Of course, this had been a project I had been working on for a long time, and somehow managed to keep it from the good doctor and the blond cyborg, but it was finally done and I was satisfied. The situation I was put in called for its completion, which I was sort of glad for; I don't think I would have gotten it done otherwise.

I placed my hands on my waist, looking at it with pride, with a dirt and oil covered jumpsuit. I turned to cough into my arms, letting out a distasteful grunt. Being sick at a time like this wasn't the best thing to ever happen to me. In fact, it was probably one of the worst. My throat hurt, my nose was stuffed, and my muscles were sluggish. I checked my phone to make sure my message got to Doctor Kuseno. " _Feeling kind of under the weather today, won't be coming to the lab for anything. If Genos needs repairs and you want me to be the lead, well then not today! Sorry doc v( '.' )v - Jade"_

I snorted, then stopped halfway through when it caused a slight discomfort in my throat. Feeling under the weather wasn't a lie, and I never told him that I'd be staying home, so really I was telling him the truth. What I'd be doing with my sick day time was however, different from keeping myself in a warm blanket and drinking tea, and it was that that I was keeping from him. It made me feel worse than I already did. The only consolation I could think of for myself was that it was important, then there was no problem with slipping a little white lie in, here and there.

Essentially, what I'd made was a full body armour. It was a combination of a dark grey and blue. There weren't many distinct features about it aside from the mask, which had a one way glass visor and LED monitor, the mouthpiece looking like a wide grin, and three horn-like headpieces. It's capabilities were as vast as I'd made them, and it wasn't unlike the models for Genos's arms. Unlike his incineration cannons, mine were made of plasma. And unlike a core system powering the armour's cannons, they were muon particles in the atmosphere; basically extremely powered and charged ions found in the air. The entire amour itself was powered by a green source, a reactor based off of the core's model. The amount of theorizing I put into its physics was mind boggling.

Looking at the time, I decided I should go, and stepped near the armour which opened up from the middle, except for the mask which was held on a bust. I walked back into it, the armour curling around me until it all clicked into place. I walked around in it to see if I felt comfortable, and as far as I could tell, everything was functioning fine. Glancing in a mirror, I saw how the suit went around my body. Being made of titanium and other metal alloys, it was rather large on me and made my normal frame look much bulkier and taller. If anything, my frame looked like that of a slender man with my armour on. My hands traveled to the metal mask, and putting it on, I found the whole ensemble actually quite androgynous. If I wasn't the one under it and didn't know any better, I wouldn't be able to tell if it was a man or a woman that the armour belonged to.

With the mask on, the complete system started up with the sensors pointing out various materials in my small home based workshop. A cross hairs went up on screen, locking onto the bust. I shrugged and went along with it, raising my arm to charge a blast that collected energy in mere nanoseconds, and released it. The bust combusted into hundreds of pieces, flying everywhere. A slight rush trailed up my back. I was like a kid on Christmas morning. That was so fun! What else could I blow up?! Reluctantly, I lowered my arm. I was going to have to clean it up later, and that was not going to be as fun as exploding things.

Grinning despite myself and my cold, I exited my apartment complex's basement with a sheet in hand, and shot off in the sky, this time being able to use my legs and my hands to balance myself. "Haf, handle the control surfaces, will you?" I requested, cringing at how hoarse and groggy my voice was. I sounded like a prepubescent boy, and it didn't help that my sinuses were clogged either.

The helmet had a built in mic, and Haf would always be connected to me, so this was an easier way of not just contacting them, but interacting with them too. " _Would you also prefer for me to control the built in heating system, ma'am? If done precisely, I can create a humidifier for your nasal congestion,"_

"You're too good," I praised quietly. It kind of stung my throat to talk, so I was trying to keep it to a minimum. "Please do."

A light steam flew into my mask, clearing my nose up a bit. I sniffed a few more times while wondering how Haf managed to humidify my helmet without steaming up the glass of the visor. Concentrating hard enough, I felt a small cold puff of air. Ah, I realized, Haf had made two different walls of air and managed to isolate them so the two had no interaction. They must have done something to the chemical compounds of the heating system of my suit to do that. It was impressive, and they had done it without making a mini tornado near my face.

Drawing ever closer to our location, I clenched my fists, my sheet crumpling in one of them. Looking down on the center from my vantage point, I gulped, realizing how many people were actually registering, and how many people would potentially fail. I landed in front of the center with an queezy feeling in my stomach, which didn't spell well for me in any way.

A few people looked my way momentarily, and turned away to go back to their own businesses.

With the shadow of the building casting over me, the task at hand seemed so much more daunting. I looked down at my sheet again, and uncrumpled it. It was the Heroes' Association registry form, with my personal information on it. I didn't want to be a hero for whatever rank they gave me, I was just tired of not being there when Genos was when he got hurt. I was tired of him being torn up when he came back for repairs. And I was tired of being out of the loop with monsters and evil organizations. I wanted to help, and I didn't care if that got me hurt.

"Woah! This place is huge!"

I turned around sharply to find a man whose face was shadowed and the sun reflecting off of his bald head. Saitama…? There was a pounding in my chest. That meant Genos was bound to be near! As the bald man approached closer, I noticed it was only him. The cyborg wasn't even near him! I looked down at what he was wearing. Maroon coloured robes… Despite only having met him, I figured Saitama wouldn't wear formal clothing. He didn't seem like the kind of guy. So who the hell was this?

"Oh, you're here too!" I jumped. Not-Saitama's attention was on me, and I didn't know how to react. I settled on an awkward wave. "Aw there's no need to be like that, man!" He groaned, stepping closer to me. He held his hand out to shake. "I'm Yonten! It looks like we're both aiming to be heroes, huh? I'm sure we'll do great!"

Uncertainly, I shook his hand, nodding to him in response. Yonten was a bald man which seemed to be the only resemblance he had to Saitama whatsoever. His eyes were an umber brown, and his face was full and round. His robes looked formal and traditional. I didn't know where he came from, but he definitely wasn't a city dweller.

"You're a quiet one, aren't you?" He observed, tilting his head to the side. It was like his eyes were looking through my mask. It was unnerving. Suddenly, he waved his hand downwards, shaking his head. "Bah, it's fine! I can do the talking for the both of us! Anyway, let's go!" His hands were on my back pushing us to the doors of the center, as I frantically tried to keep my balance. He was going too fast! Too fast! I shook my arms to hopefully convey those thoughts, though all he seemed to do was ignore them. I barely knew this guy and he thought we were friends?! I also tried to voice my protest, yet it went unheard.

The hand which was holding my registry form lost its grip, as the wind blew, and carried it away. "W-wait!" I finally yelled, cursing under my breath at how much irritation it caused in my throat. Yonten stopped pushing me, and patted my back as I hunched over to cough.

"Jeeze, are you good? Maybe you should should have waited until the next registry if you're like this, but I can admire you for coming anyways. I mean, don't misunderstand me, being a hero seems like it's interesting, but you'd probably be best when your better, because they do have the two exams, and doing them like you are now would be a pain!"

I growled lowly, keeping my tongue from lashing at him. He was pushy and annoying, and I didn't care if he was right. "If I don't do this now," I muttered, "then I won't have the courage to do it later." His eyes widened, as I turned away from him. I sighed aggravatedly. "I dropped my damn paper…"

"Hey," he murmured encouragingly, placing a hand on my shoulder, "maybe I can help you look for it?"

I scoffed, turning my head to the side. Yeah, we'd find it all the way in City W. "No point. The wind seems to want it more." I spoke gruffly, breathing heavily to the side.

"Well," Yonten exclaimed, standing up straight, "I'm sure they have extra forms in the center, right? I mean, I didn't bring in a form. They said on the website you can give your name at the front desk and you'll be validated." I raised an eyebrow warily under my mask. Had the website really said that? I wasn't sure if I was going to trust this man's word, but I supposed it was better than nothing.

I nodded in thanks, and moved ahead of him wordlessly. This was something I really wanted to get this over with. As soon as I opened the doors to the center, I was overcome with the noise of the center itself. It was like it was an event everyone is the city seemed to attend on a basis. Yonten gripped my shoulder from behind, and pointed out the front desk with a lady sitting in front of a computer. "That looks like where we're supposed to go." He was stating the obvious. Above the lady was a large sign, with all caps, saying, "REGISTRATION HERE!"

Yonten took a deep breath, and smoothed out his robes. "Watch me," he smirked and winked, then strutted over to the front desk. I followed behind trying to look like I wasn't associated with him in the slightest. This was going to be an embarrassment. He placed an arm on the counter of the desk coyly, and nodded to the lady.

"How may I help you two gentlemen today?" Her smile was strained, like she had put up with a lot of bull before we came in. With the crowd behind us which contained a ridiculous amount of strong men in spandex, I didn't blame her. I blanked halfway through observing her. ...She assumed I was a man, didn't she?

"Well, you see," he grinned courteously, tilting his head back, "me and my friend were looking to register for the exams." He motioned his hand my way, and I raised my hand to which the lady glanced.

"As they all are," she muttered, typing a few things on her keyboard with acrylic nails which made it sound only a bit worse. She looked back up at us expectantly, holding out her hand. She raised a brow. "Your forms?"

Now, Yonten balked like a deer in the headlights. "Excuse me…?"

"Your forms," she stressed, like it would make anymore sense to him. "You were supposed to send in your form last night, or print out the form to hand in today." She sighed despondently. "Look," she pointed a long nail to one of the sheets she had to the side, "we've got a few here just in case, but I'm only giving the each of you one, okay? I'm not going to accept it if you make a mistake. I've already dealt with enough…" She muttered at the end in a huff, crossing her arms. I wondered absentmindedly about what kind of people she did deal with. I imagined what she went through was a comical as the people here.

Awkwardly, Yonten took two sheets and a pen, to sign a little further down the desk away from the receptionist lady. I tilted my head to the side to examine his face at a better angle. He actually was quite attractive, and the fact he was flushed added to it all. "So," he trailed, "I feel like it's kinda my fault you lost your sheet, so let me fill yours out for you." I nodded in agreement. It was less work for me, and if I could get a gleam of his muscles when he was writing, I was set.

He started off with filling out his own sheet, mumbling as he did. "Oh yeah!" He shot up from his writing. "I haven't really told you about myself, have I? Well, I already told you my name is Yonten…" Looking back down at his writing, with a grin on his face, he continued. "Anyway, I'm a Tibetan monk, and I've trained at my monastery ever since I was a kid. I'm the youngest there, so my seniors have a tendency to look down on me, and that's why I decided to become a hero, you know? To prove myself to them. This is also the first time I've left the monastery, and I don't know much about the cities, but they really are different, yeah? It's so rambunctious and loud here. Back at the monastery, right now we'd normally be practicing katas with our weapons, or praying to Buddha. It's odd, but I like it!"

I smiled softly. He seemed really passionate about doing what he liked and not caring about what other people thought. It was charming. It didn't mean I still hadn't found him somewhat pushy and annoying, it just meant there was more good in him than what I initially found, and I was glad I did find more about him. "I almost forgot to ask," his voice brought me out of my musings, "what's your name?"

One sheet was off to the side, and the only thing that really was personal on the sheet was one's name. The rest of it was general and observable information, so Yonten only needed my name, and he could fill out the rest for me. He was a kind man. I had to admit, I liked him already.

I began to answer, "Ja-" but was subsequently cut off by my own coughing fit. Yonten didn't seem to mind, and wrote down the characters to my name, and I trusted he had gotten it right. "-de," I ended quietly. He nodded dismissively and handed both of the now completed forms to the annoyed receptionist.

She pointed the both of us in the same direction. Locker room number 15. It had me a bit confused. Were the locker rooms not separated by gender? Or were there co-ed rooms?

"Looks like this is the room, huh Jason?" Yonten stated proudly.

My jaw dropped, and I hunched over. H-he just called me Ja-son?! But I said Jade! Jade! I quickly came to a realization. My coughing fit…! He must have only heard the beginning of my name and filled in the blank with whatever came to mind! I had to go fix this with that receptionist immediately!

A shadow hung itself over my head. " _I'm only giving the each of you one… If it has a mistake, I'm not going to accept it…"_ If I told her my name was wrong, would that qualify as a mistake? And then she wouldn't accept my entry?

"Uh, are you going to keel over again?" Yonten asked hesitantly, putting a hand on my back for support.

I barely paid him any attention. I was locked out then, to enter as myself. I could only register as this, "Jason," even though I _wasn't_ him. I began to shake. Less of it as first, but it became more violent in mere seconds.

"Jason?"

In an instant, my back became straight, sharp, and tense, all in one. I slammed the side of my fist on the wall, and went into the locker room without an ounce of hesitation. I didn't care anymore. If I did any of this hero schtick, then the way I got into it? I didn't care. What I did with it? That was what was important. My resolve was steeled.

That same resolve immediately became shattered when my helmet's sensors locked onto another bald head, and a familiar energy source. My heart dropped to my stomach, and I struggled to swallow my own spit. The world hated me, it was the only explanation. First, I couldn't sign up as myself because of my coughing fit(because of course, today of all days I _had_ to be sick), then _they_ had to be here?! I knew Genos and his sensei would register, but did they really have to be in the same damn locker room?!

I slammed my head on a random locker door, while Haf sent me warning signs, saying, " _M_ _a'am, I would advise you to not do this, as it could be detrimental to your health."_ I really couldn't have cared less. And obviously, I was causing a commotion so everyone started to look my way!

"So, the pretty lady gave me our locker keys, but I can't find…" Yonten's voice carried from behind, "Oh, Jason, you found them!" I growled, slamming my head harder. "Let me just… squeeze by here…" He grunted a few times shifting past me to get to his locker. "There we go!"

Yonten tapped my shoulder, and I held out my hand defeatedly for him to hand me my key. He additionally handed me a small pamphlet, which I recognized as one of the papers from the front desk. "It looks like the written exam starts in ten minutes," he said helpfully.

The cross hairs in my helmet locked onto various paragraphs of information; basic information about the association, a description of the registry, how long each exam would be, and it even listed that it was the 55th hero certification exam. "Haf, do some quick math for me," I muttered lowly so Yonten wouldn't hear. The association had been up for three years, so 55 divided by three meant…

Haf's calculations came on screen. " _Evenly spread out, it appears as though the Heroes' Association hosts about 18 hero certification exams per year."_

"And how many per month?"

" _1.5, ma'am. Although, most likely one per month, and in four other months they include a second."_

I nodded to Haf's solid conclusion. "Right."

Soon enough, the written exam came and went. They had split us into groups, and watching closely, I found Yonten was put into Saitama's group, and seeing how the world still hated me for no reason, I was put into Genos's group. The written exam was easy enough, it wasn't anything complicated. Sure, a few of the academic questions might have been semi-challenging, but Haf did most of them for me. Surprisingly enough, some of the hopeful heroes in our group got eliminated too. During the easy part of the entire process. What happened was that they had caused some disturbances. You know those kids during tests and examinations that have no idea what they're doing, so they just decide to flip the hell out? Yeah, those were the kind of people that got eliminated during the written portion. Seven of our cramped group of 35 were eliminated from the small lecture hall.

The worst part of the written exam for me personally? I was sat next to the damned blond cyborg. Yes, he was my friend, but he was my friend as Jade. Not this new Jason guy. It was awkward, extremely awkward. The unspoken agreement the two of us seemed to have was that we didn't talk. An unspoken agreement, indeed!

Then came the physical. That was more of a struggle for me. Since I was still sick and my muscles were still groggy, it would be more of a pain. But what no one told me was that we'd be doing it on our goddamn underwear! Hell, some of the strong men still got to stay in their leotards!

It was obviously going to be a problem for me, because Jade was under the accidental guise of Jason and she was no man! If I took off my suit, I'd be in a room filled to the brim with men in _my underwear._ That was not something my dignity would let me do!

When I came back out of the change room still in my suit, one of the proctors wasn't very pleased with me.

"Why aren't you undressed?" He asked crossly. I snorted. If only he knew to whom he was really asking that question.

"Well, you see," I started, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly, ready to go on a tirade of bull.

"I don't care," he cut me off, "just come back out undressed or I'll give you a penalty!" This guy really seemed to hate me for some reason. That or he had a gigantic stick up his ass.

I strolled back into the change room anxiously. There was no way there was going to be a solution to my problem. I charged into the washroom and placed my hand on the sink's corners to stare at the mirror. I looked over my helmet to see if I could look beyond the visor and find my actual face. I sighed disappointedly. I couldn't. I really couldn't. I couldn't picture myself being a hero either. But someone under the suit could be. Was that person really still me, however?

"Why don't you go out like that?" I jumped, turning to the washroom door to find Genos in all his cybernetic glory. I thought he was out there already. "You're a cyborg, aren't you?" HIs eyes were dangerously narrowed on me. I shook my head absentmindedly. He let out a small, "hmph," and left, just like that. He always had an underlying message to his words, and I only realized the meaning to those specific ones.

I turned to look back at the mirror. Knowing I was alone again, my hands rose to my helmet slowly. They were shaking. My hands were shaking. I pulled off my mask, and looked at my real face. My raven black hair was matted to my scalp, my normally bright green eyes felt dull and dead, and there was oil and dirt almost everywhere. No, Jade really couldn't be a hero. But Jason would be.

With as much speed as I could muster with my newfound determination thanks to Genos, I tinkered with the light displays and speakers in my mask, with Haf assisting me greatly. It felt like I was in there for hours, adjusting what I could to my mask, but it was only a few minutes. I was so sucked into my work. I rubbed the forearm of my gauntlet on my forehead, spreading what grime that was already there further.

Putting my helmet back on, the lights underneath my visors flickered a translucent light blue on and off, until it became still. The blue light went down my neck, all the way down to my feet. The hologram was stabilized. The blue light turned quickly turned to the tone of my skin, and over my armour came a lean body of a young man in his boxer briefs. "Testing," I said, surprised at how well the voice modulator was working. As my voice came out of my throat, the modulator adjusted it as it went through the microphone and speaker system. It was deeper, and dare I say, it sounded cooler. Jason was ready to go back out, and go back out he did.

"Hey, what-!" The proctor protested, his hand hanging out towards me.

I pointed to myself, more specifically my mask that was still on. "You'll let me keep this on at least, right?" My voice came out light and comedic. Yeah, I was so not going with the silent protagonist bullshit. I passed by the ass of a proctor steadily, taking my spot next to Genos on the floor. He was looking my way curiously. I gave him a two fingered salute. "Thanks for the pep talk, blondy." Mildly affronted, his head jerked back, but he regained his composure quickly, and gave me an acknowledging nod. And with that, the physical examination officially began.

Each portion of it wasn't very hard, although I don't think I can really say much about it considering I technically cheated with my armour. I very well couldn't give it my all either, otherwise it would have proved I was cheating. Genos however, his physical was phenomenal. He blew through each test like it was nothing. I had seen him fight before, hell I even constructed a training room for him before, but seeing it again in person was astounding. If he was so strong as he was, then how come he was so self destructive? I just didn't understand.

Either way, with both examinations officially done, it was time to return to the change rooms. On the way, walking near Genos, we both heard rumours of a man who supposedly broke every record within the physical test, and even discouraged many into becoming heroes. "Sensei…!" Genos concluded, and I couldn't help but agree. Saitama was the only one who fit that description.

And speaking of the devil, there he was accompanied by Yonten who was behind him excitedly. ...And they were both in speedos…! Both of them and their muscles were so toned! " _Ma'am, your jaw has dropped."_ Haf so helpfully told me. I gulped. Shit, now was not the time.

"Man, I can't believe I came second to you in everything," Yonten griped good naturedly, "but you were really amazing, you know? You're skills are really impressive!"

Saitama rubbed his head. "I don't know about that. I guess we just have to wait for the results." His head turned our way. "Oh, you done too?" He was specifically asking Genos.

Genos's eyes were on Yonten warily, before responding. Yonten, walked up to me and spoke as well. "Jason, how'd it go for you?"

I shrugged. "It was alright, I guess. Nothing too hard."

His eyes lit up. "Oh! Your voice is different. So you got over you're cold, huh? That's good! I have to agree with you, too. I was hoping for something more challenging." He sighed, placing a hand on his waist.

I nodded. "Both of the exams were simple. It's kind of disappointing to know that's all it takes to be a hero." I felt it should have been something more. Something like throwing us into the wilderness for forty days with nothing but our wits, and the survivors would be the heroes. Then again, that would take more than forty anime episodes, and I didn't have the time for it.

"Yeah, definitely." He agreed. "We have an hour to wait for the results, so I'm going to redress myself." He reached into his locker to retrieve his clothes. They were folded really nicely, I observed. Making up some excuse, I went back into the washroom to deactivate my hologram.

To pass the time, we began to talk more. Although he had told me already of why he wanted to be a hero, Yonten had never gotten an answer from me. I vaguely noticed Saitama and Genos were looking our way, as if they wanted to weigh in on our discussion. "There's someone important," I looked up, and noticed Genos's eyes were locked onto mine, even through my visor, "I want to protect." My heart was palpitating, and I had no idea why. I nodded upwards to the both of them. "What about you two? Why did you take the exam?"

I was curious. Of course, I already knew Genos's answer, but I never learned why Saitama wanted to take the exam. I had assumed he had already taken it. "Oh, me?" His finger was pointed to himself almost boredly. "I'm a hero for fun, and wasn't recognized."

His answer was more than underwhelming. I felt my brow twitch. I shouldn't have expected much, especially from a man who was wearing a sweater that literally said the word, 'boobs,' on it.

My head turned towards Genos. "I am sensei's disciple, and will follow him wherever he may go." I sighed. At least it sounded more legitimate.

An hour soon passed by, and only the four of us, Saitama, Genos, Yonten, and I, received envelopes. The rest of the hopeful contestants were sent home in shame. Genos opened his first. "I got 100 points." He stated. It was true, 50/50 for both written and fitness portions of the exam, and a big black 'S' was at the top of his page. As he and the first baldy in the room wondered what it meant to be a class S hero, I opened my envelope.

"90 points, class A." I said with a frown. Class rankings were strange, and it really was a curiosity why heroes were ranked. Oh well, I sighed, it wasn't like I really cared.

The second baldy in the room also opened his envelope, and grinned. "93 points, also class A! Wait til the boys back at the monastery here about this!" Yonten waved his sheet proudly, back and forth. "What did you get, Saitama? I'm sure you've gotten an S class, right?"

Sitting on the bench and opening the top, Saitama's small smile grew a little. "Oh! The letter says I'm also…"

Genos and Yonten both smiled. I couldn't help but smile too. If anyone deserved to be highest ranking, it was definitely Saitama. "By the way, sensei, what did they ask you at the interview?" I raised a brow. They had an interview portion? As Genos recounted how he had gone through an interview detailing about how they had asked him about the House of Evolution, Saitama had moved to a window beaming the warm rays of the setting sun.

"They hadn't gone through and interview for you, had they?" Yonten asked me with a hand holding his chin. I shook my head.

"Sensei?"

I looked back towards Saitama whose face was the pinnacle of disappointment. "I'm just a C class hero with a score of 71 points."

My eyebrows furrowed. There was no way he was a C class, right? Looking closer, I noticed he had gotten full points for the physical, but the written…

"Stop analyzing it!" Saitama shouted aggravatedly.

I reeled back slowly. Listen to the man, don't make him anymore angry, I thought. Yonten was also visibly troubled by his fellow baldy's low ranking.

"It must be a mistake." Genos glowered. "I will talk to the person in charge."

"No, don't! You'll just embarrass me!"

On the PA system came a voice. "Mr. Genos, Mr. Yonten, Mr. Jason, and Mr. Saitama, there will be a seminar for successful candidates at 4:00pm. Please come to lecture hall number three."

Saitama sighed, waving his sheet. "Alright, let's go. All that really matters is that we all passed. Let's just get it over with and leave."

We all walked there, and I crossed my arms. Yonten, who was beside me, leaned over to whisper to me. "I don't get it… Saitama— it's like there's something as powerful as a god is in his body, you know? Even if he only scored 21 points on the written test, he should be ranked first in the registry for only his physical prowess! They even made him do extra tests in the physical just to make sure his performance wasn't a mishap!" It was sweet Yonten was troubled by Saitama's plight, but it wouldn't change Saitama's rank. Besides, he said he didn't want Genos to take it up with whoever was at the top of the chain, so it wasn't like we could do anything to help him.

I sighed. "Let's just let it be. It's his problem and he doesn't want us meddling in his business. He can deal with it how he sees fit."

Even with that, the monk hadn't seemed satisfied. "Yeah, I suppose…"

We entered the lecture hall, and the cyborg and the hero for fun were both seated in the front middle desk. Yonten and I took the seats to the front right. At the front of the room was a man in a snake print suit. His hair was swept to his right, with a sunken looking face. He congratulated us all on passing with very low levels of enthusiasm, though I suspected all of us weren't very interested in what he had to say. His expression soon turned irritated and he was focused on Saitama who was chewing gum obnoxiously loud.

"Now one of you only made it on a fluke," he certainly wasn't referring to me, "so unless you want your luck to go to waste, I better see you giving it your all."

I scoffed, turning my head. What a massive waste of my time to only be targeting Saitama. I could see Yonten's smile also turn down into a massive frown. None of us were really happy about it.

Suddenly, he jumped up on his desk and began to perform hastily made martial arts moves with various cries. Cringe worthy. Yonten leaned over to me. "His form isn't very impressive…" I laughed airily so I wouldn't be heard.

"Aspire to be a fine hero like me!" Yonten made a silly face, to that prospect and I laughed a bit harder.

The bubble Saitama was blowing suddenly popped and covered his face, and I was sure I fell over then, holding my stomach because of how much it began to hurt. The snake print guy began to yell about something, but I hadn't bothered even showing any more respect, because damn if what happened wasn't funny!

Eventually, we all exited the center, and Yonten had handed me a pamphlet that was on the snake print guy's desk. He gave all of us a bow, saying with sincerity, "It was very nice to meet all of you! I hope we can work together in the future!" I saluted him appreciatively. Even if he had written me down as Jason, Yonten was still a pretty cool guy, and it really paid to have given him the benefit of the doubt. Then he walked off, to his monastery, I assumed, to show off how he'd done.

I also turned to Genos and Saitama. "I gotta say the same thing. It was really cool meeting you guys. Have a nice evening." Saluting them, I activated the boosters in my boots and flew off.

During flight, I wondered if I was going to act on my thoughts. It wasn't like there was any harm in it, in fact, the guy needed it if he was so undervalued. I stopped in front of Saitama's apartment door, and my armour folded down into a briefcase, and I waited there for a while. Absentmindedly, I checked my phone and noticed I had a message from Genos from several hours ago.

 _Doctor Kuseno told me you're sick?_ It read.

My fingers hovered over the screen, wondering if I should bother replying back to him. They began to type on their own. _Yeah, i didnt come into the facility today_ I hit send, then typed up another message. _Its nice to take a break tho, hope I didnt worry you too much_

I put my phone in my pocket, and leaned against the wall to the left of Saitama's door. I felt it buzz, and I took out my phone again, noticing Genos had messaged me back. _Do you need me to come over to your apartment?_

I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face. He knew how I rarely became sick, and when I did, it was usually really big, leaving me in a mess of tissues and blankets. _Nah, its nothing big, just a small one this time, but i drank my tea like you always say i should do!_

 _Good_

 _Are you proud of me?_ (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

 _...What is that…?_

 _Theres this site i found and it has all of these hilarious emotes you should try them somtime!_ ̿̿'̿'\̵͇̿̿\=(•̪●)=/̵͇̿̿/'̿̿ ̿ ̿ ̿

 _I'd rather not_

I snorted, trying to hold in my chuckles. I could visualize his befuddled face, and it was hilarious. _Suit yourself!_ ಠ◡ಠ

Genos tried to change the topic. _Are you going to be free tomorrow if you're not sick?_

I was surprised at that. What did he want me for? _Probably, why?_

I waited anxiously, my hands becoming clammy, and he finally sent his message. _I want to spar with Saitama-sensei tomorrow and was wondering if you could help me collect data_

I felt my head fall. Of course it had something to do with Saitama. I should have expected this more of his character now, although I didn't know why I was so dissatisfied with his answer. _Sure_ I wondered for a bit, thinking back a little. _You know, i actually might need you to come over_

 _Oh?_

 _I think im running a femur_ I laughed harder. _Get it? A femur?_

 _...Yes, I get it_

 _Then you remember how i used to tell you all those shitty bone puns, right?_

 _All too well_

I felt tears form in the corners if my eyes, as I tried to contain myself.

 _Oh yeah, howd the hero exam go?_ I added, just to give myself some breathing time.

 _I got Class S hero certification, and Sensei got C class_

 _That doesnt seem right_

 _I agree, I feel like Sensei deserves more than that_

 _Well, congratulations anyway! Now youre officially his disciple, yeah?_

 _Yes, but in any case I'll be waiting at the facility for you tomorrow afternoon_

 _Sure, see you then!_ I put my phone back in my pocket, chuckling to myself as I soon became breathless and doubled over. I wiped my eyes. Puns and Genos were always an amazing combination. I waited outside Saitama's door a little longer, tapping on my briefcase, and humming along to a tune I vaguely remembered. Finally, I saw him come up the stairs, and he continued onto his door like I wasn't there. I blanked.

"Hey, Saitama?" He turned around, as if he just noticed me.

"Oh, you're… uh J...?"

"Jade, yes, that's my name." I tapped my foot in an annoyed manner, but ultimately sighed, trying to release my exasperation. He didn't deserve to be at the end of it. "You'll have to excuse my appearance and voice. I'm kinda sick, but listen, I wanted to talk to you about something." I was still in my jumpsuit, and it was covered in a bunch of oil and dirt.

He hummed, opening his door and holding it open. "Is it going to be long?" He asked cautiously, his face becoming a little more hesitant.

I shook my head. "No, we can just talk out here." He looked back into his apartment with a frown, but turned back. "It's going to be short, I can promise that." I offered.

He took it up, nodding. "Okay."

I released a breath, thinking over what my overall message really was. "So, all I wanted to say is that Genos is really excited about being your student, you know?" I smiled, tilting my head. And Genos really was excited. He felt different somehow, and I felt it was all thanks to Saitama. "I feel like I know he's going to be in good hands if it's you. You're gonna be a great sensei for him, I can just tell. Thanks for agreeing to be his sensei anyway. You'll do amazing!" I bowed. "Thank you!"

"Uh, yeah, you too." He said, and walked inside of his apartment awkwardly.

It was hardly the goodbye I was expecting from him, but then again, we didn't really know each other, and I already learned that with him, I shouldn't have had expectations in the first place.

On the way home, I left with a smile on my face. It was going to be a good day tomorrow.

* * *

I grunted, wincing. Where was I? The last thing I could remember was something about a surgery? Oh yeah, my brain supplied me with an answer, I needed surgery for my knee. Knee replacement surgery. I shifted in my bed to make myself more comfortable. I coughed a few times, and cleared my throat. It was hoarse. I needed water. "W-wat-" I muttered weakly, reaching my hand out. I felt something in my grip, and my fingers curled around it. It felt like a glass.

I opened an eye slowly, trying to sit myself up. There was no need to, as my bed inclined itself. I lifted the glass to my face, relishing in the cold liquid running down my esophagus. I coughed into my arm. "Thank you doc-" I turned to face him, but instead of the doctor like I'd been expecting, I was face to face with Genos. The cyborg who probably wanted nothing to do with me anymore. "Thanks," I murmured softly, trying to look anywhere at him but his eyes. They were piercing.

He raised a brow, and turned his head flippantly. Now was a good time to talk to him if any, but I realized, I just couldn't. He didn't even seem to be near me on his own accord. I doubted he would be, anyway. Doctor Kuseno must have convinced him to at least he here. There was no other explanation.

"Um," I said hesitantly, "you can sit down if you want to." I motioned a hand to a chair, near my bed.

Roughly, Genos grabbed the chair and sat down in it crossing his arms, still refusing to say anything. We sat in a tense silence for the most part, and it felt as if nothing about that was going to change.

Well, it wasn't like it could have made it any worse, so I decided to crack a joke. "It looks like you're not the only one who has a bit of metal in them now, huh?" He raised a brow again, almost silently asking for me to go on. "The doctor told you I got knee replacement surgery right?" I took another sip of the water. "My leg was broken when I fell after… the cyborg, and it agitated my knee so much that it ended up broken too. He told me earlier when I agreed to the surgery that I'd have a metal knee, so I guess in that aspect, we're a bit alike, huh?" I smiled with melancholy. "You're not the only one who's metal now."

He only grunted in response. I frowned. "Well you don't have _tibia_ jerk about it." His head turned my way dangerously, almost as if he was insulted that I made a pun in his presence. A small grin was tugging its way to the corners of my mouth. "I'm _ulna_ trying to help." He scoffed. It was the closest thing to a laugh I had gotten, so I was going to take it. "Come on, it's _humerous_! None of this is tickling your _funny bone_?" I waved a hand defeatedly. "Fine, have it your way," I placed a hand over my heart, "but with you being here and all, I feel just a little less _bonely_." He rolled his eyes at that one. Or all of them. I guess it really didn't matter, he was just tired of my shit.

I leaned back and closed my eyes. The atmosphere felt a little less tense, and a little more comforting. I was glad. I felt something being placed on my good leg. It was hard, and flat. I opened my eyes again and found a chessboard. In fact, this was one of the chessboards in my room that I played with the old man every other day. I looked back up at Genos who was vehemently avoiding my gaze. "He said you like playing this…"

Shocked, I nodded dumbly. "Uh… y-yeah! Want to play a few rounds?"

We set up the board several times after all of our matches. More often than not, he'd win, or we'd end up in a stalemate. I only managed to win once. And as it ended, I found his presence to be more comforting. With my eyes struggling to stay open, we ended our last game of chess. It was another stalemate; my queen and his were locked in a fierce battle.

If Genos and I became anything that day, it was friends, and that thought couldn't have made me feel any happier.

* * *

 _ **20 damn pages.**_ **That's how long this chapter is. Some of this is also pretty rushed, so please do leave any criticisms if you have any. Tell me what you thought of the chapter! Was it good, was it bad, was everyone in character? Oh, oh, oh! Tell me what you think of Yonten! He's a pretty fun character to write, and it's always fun to introduce new OCs. I made him a Tibetan monk instead of Shaolin, cause I felt like that one's kinda overused, you know? Either way, take this joyful bald man from me, because I am shoving him into your arms, even though they are already filled with eggs!**

 **So, in this one, there's the aftermath of Haf attacking Genos, and the aftermath of Genos and Jade's relationship of that event. Then I just basically vomited everything about the certification exam in one sitting. And if you're wondering, yes there is a reason why Jade is Jason. If I revealed it however… Well, let's just say the story wouldn't be as fun if I did.**

 **Oh yeah, I should probably also say, any grammar mistakes are mine and mine alone, so please do scream at me if I miss any of them, especially in this one, since it's larger and there's more room for mistakes! (It is 11pm whil I'm writing this one, this is not good for me. Someone take my computer away from me.)**

 **Shoutouts to Imagine476, supermeg12 (** _ **you have reviewed for each chapter so far, I think, and hell if I don't love reading them!**_ **), (for some reason, it won't let me write your name, but !) (** _ **you found out I literally lurk the OPM reddit, like geeze, give me a warning next time, will ya!?**_ **), Hispanicin (** _ **you literally vomited in the reviews and I am becoming concerned, do I need to get you some medicin!?**_ **), professionalemail101 (** _ **THE SMOOCHIE SMOOCH STUFF WILL PROBABLY NOT HAPPEN FOR A WHILE, DON'T BE DISCOURAGED THOUGH, IT WILL HAPPEN. But seriously, this might be kind of a slowburn romance wise!**_ **), DancingPeony (** _ **it's been a while, but I hope you've enjoyed/are enjoying OPM! It's a fun fandom!)**_ **and xGuiltyXGigglesx03 (** _ **thank you so much! I hope I can come to meet your expectations!)**_ **, and everyone who reviewed for previous chapters! You are all really freaking amazing, you know that? And hell, we're already over 30 favourites, 50 follows, and 20 reviews! That's awesome!**

 **Thank you all again, from the bottom of my heart!**

 **Reviews are love and motivation!**


	6. What it Means to Lose

" _There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time." - Malcolm X_

* * *

"God damn it," I swore under my breath. "You know it's always a good start to your morning when your door squeaks like four hundred, seventy two thousand, six hundred and thirty five bats out of hell. It's always a good time!" I spoke sarcastically, grumbling all the way to my tool box. It was also always a good time when I had to make my own home improvements, because clearly, it was something to be happy about.

The apartment complex I lived in wasn't the cheapest, but it wasn't the most expensive either. It sat perfectly in the middle where my budget would allow me to stay. It was somewhere where I didn't have to expect attacks from mysterious beings every other day, it wasn't a place I had to worry about concerning my appearance (the looks they give you in the high end cities, yeesh), and expenses weren't ridiculously overpriced. Overall, it was a pretty good place to live. It was comfortable.

Unfortunately, comfortable didn't always mean it was the best. It was laid back, and as such, the apartment complex I lived in wasn't known for taking care of its problems very efficiently. I complained several times to the landlord about the problems in my humble little abode. I had a whole damn list of the things wrong with it; leaky roof, unstable scaffolding which was still there even though all the cleaning and repairing had been done, loud neighbors who didn't understand the definition of the opposite of screaming, the vending machines in the lobby which had always taken to eating my money, the few dryers which didn't even give off hot air, and now of all things, it was the squeaky door hinge everyone in the building had.

When I'd first found the building, it was an amazing five out of five, although now that I'd seen its worst, it was more like a solid two out of five hell bats. Not exactly appealing. So, I was fed up. If the landlord couldn't get his shit together, then I'd fix this one thing by myself, and I didn't care if he complained to me about adjusting the building's structure without a permit. My official engineering certificate, diploma, master's and bachelor's degree were permit enough, and if that didn't satisfy him, then he could take all of the occasional problems with the place and shove it.

Taking a screwdriver and a hammer out of my briefcase and some white lithium grease from my box of little supplies, I tapped the door hinge pin out of the top hinge and coated it with the grease, grimacing at its slimy texture. It wasn't as if I hadn't worked with slimy materials before, though in the majority of situations I'd ever been in, slimy almost never meant pleasant. Placing the pin back in the hinge, I tested it out, and frowned when it still squeaked. It was the bottom one causing me so much trouble, then. I repeated the process I'd done for the top door hinge and applied it to the second.

While in the middle of coating the second pin, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I assumed it was my landlord. "Mr. Oro, I swear to God, if you so much as whine about what I'm doing, I will take this lubricated pin in my hands and force it down your-" With how his footsteps stopped in his tracks, I turned to face him fully to let him witness the full extent of my rant properly.

Pointing the pin menacingly, I blinked. That wasn't Mr. Oro. My eyes trailed from his sandaled feet, to his robed body, and finally to his bald head. No, no, it really wasn't Mr. Oro. In mortification, I bowed my head repeatedly, apologizing until my lungs would give out on me.

But to all people...

He laughed sheepishly, placing a hand to the back of his head. "No, no! It's alright! Someone like you shouldn't be bowing to me anyway!"

...did it have to happen to Yonten?

"You've made me curious although, is the landlord really that bad? He seems like a sweet old man on first impression."

I lifted slowly from my near 90 degree, back breaking bow, and was brought back to my ire. "That's what he wants you to think! Then once you're all situated in, he strikes like a snake and wraps you up in his iron grip!" My hand closed tightly, and forgetting a _heavily_ lubricated hinge pin was in it, the pin slipped out of my grasp, _and hit Yonten in the face_. I felt myself choke. "I am so sorry!" What the hell was wrong with me today?!

Ever grinning, Yonten wiped at the lithium grease that had ended up on his cheek, and picked up the pin to hand it back to me. "I can understand how the landlord entices clientele. The building is quite beautiful on the outside. On the inside, well, your presence improves the quality, I see." He winked.

I shifted uncomfortably and took the pin back. I was so very close to forgetting Yonten was a flirt. So very close. He adjusted himself to my lack of reaction. "So what is it you're doing here?" He coughed into his robes, and I sympathized with him. I too lacked wooing abilities.

I played with the pin, showing it to him. "The doors have this ungodly sounding shriek whenever you move it even an inch, so I thought I'd fix it. Well, mine at least. This pin is the thing causing the whole mess." I recoated the pin with grease and placed it back into its hinge properly. "Are you a new tenant?" I asked for the sake of conversation, turning back to him.

"Yes!" He nodded, sticking his hand out. "My name is Yonten, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Well, friend, this isn't the first time we've met, but a pleasure nonetheless, I thought.

I looked at it almost experimentally, and picked up a rag I had also brought out with me to clean myself up. "Sorry, I don't mean to be offensive, but my hands are kind of gross right now. I'm Jade."

He laughed, throwing his head back. "It's nothing to apologize for! I should know better. But I'm glad to know you'll be my neighbor, Jade!" At least he wasn't calling me Jason.

I tilted my head curiously. "Neighbor?"

"Yup! I now live in the apartment… right there." He looked over me and shot a look to the door next to mine.

"Oh," I deadpanned, something which the monk lacked to notice, "how convenient…" How much harder would this make things for me? Quite. This was supposed to be the same building Jason's armour (I had now taken to calling it that) left. Whether it be from my apartment door/balcony, or the basement which I rented from time to time (I basically owned it; tenants could rent it for a month, and it was a first come first serve kind of deal. I was always the first), with Yonten, a hero, and someone who knew Jason, I could see this causing problems for me in the future.

I put on a smile anyway, trying to hold onto something other than negativity. I'd figure something out later. "Well, welcome to the building! Try not to let Mr. Oro deceive you like he has to so many of us. He may look innocent, but trust me, he's really not." I eyed his door contemplatively. "It's not much of a welcoming present, but let me fix up your hinges for you."

"Are you sure?" He looked tentative about it, though I didn't understand why.

"Absolutely!" I replied. "If it makes you feel any better, this is probably more for me than you anyway. I've got some time to kill, and you know, the less noise in this place the better."

To that, he was less reluctant and took my offer. "Thank you," he bowed.

I waved it off like it was no big deal. "Thank me when you don't have to deal with a migraine in the morning and your door isn't screaming like its heart was ripped out." We both moved to his door and he opened it with his key. I winced at the sound when he moved his door towards the both of us. Yeah, this was definitely being done more for me than anyone. I tapped the pin out of the hinge with my screwdriver and hammer.

Coating the pin with grease, Yonten jokingly asked me, "So what are you? Some sort of handywoman?"

I raised a brow in mild surprise as I put the pin back and moved on to the bottom hinge. "Close. I'm an engineer. I'm used to working with more complicated materials and machinery, but fixing small things like this is refreshing every now and then." In a comfortable silence, I fixed up the last hinge, and clapped my hands together satisfyingly, wiping it off with the rag.

Yonten was leaned up against the wall, and he hummed after a few moments. "You could make a business out of this, you know?"

First trying to understand what he was saying, I was confused, but soon I scoffed, and stood back to my full height. "Trust me, I've tried. You'd be surprised at how many people don't want their appliances fixed by a teenage girl." Especially the boss who declined the coffee blaster idea. Well, I was working with a well renowned scientist and had the chance to work with a cyborg of all things now! He lost out on a lot when he docked my pay. If he even tried to contact me now, I was proud to say I would be the one to decline him.

"No, no," Yonten shook his head. "I mean with the building here, and maybe then you could spread out from there. You could have a fully functional business in no time!" He encouraged.

I wiped at my hands absentmindedly with a frown. I truly had thought of making a repair shop before, but I didn't have the necessary tools or resources. Maybe I could try to start a business. There certainly was a high demand for repair shops considering how many monsters destroyed property. I nodded. "Okay yeah," I grinned. "I'll try and see where it takes me."

Yonten pumped his fist up. "That's the spirit!" I gathered my tools and put them back into my little box. Yonten reached out a hand, having looked a little distressed. "Do you have something to attend?" He inquired.

I checked my phone for the time again, and put it back in my pocket. It was about time I left."Yeah, I have this… event I'm going to. There's some stuff I have to do before that, so I need to head off pretty soon." It involved exchanging Genos's arms and finding the proper equipment, not to mention some tools I had made for this specific fight. I intended to observe it fully.

He perked back up, nodded vigorously. "Right, I suppose I'll see you soon!" He opened his door, and I reveled in the sound it wasn't giving off. "Thank you again, Jade!" And he stepped back into his apartment.

Awkwardly, I was left outside with a hand raised in a small wave. I sighed. Yonten was a… tiresome character. Well, I had something else to attend to now. With that determined thought, I put my toolbox back in my apartment, grabbed two briefcases, and a light coat. In order for the whole project to fully function, I needed a third large suitcase which was back at the facility.

I decided to walk at a leisurely pace. I felt like everything was moving too fast. It passed me by so quickly, I barely had enough time to soak it all in. I supposed that was how I felt ever since my home town had been destroyed. It had been one thing after the other without any breaks in between. First it had been discovering the mad cyborg, finding Doctor Kuseno, working with him, warning the people, the destruction, my leg, meeting Genos, surgery, working with Genos, and then always working by him, never happy that he had gotten so hurt.

My breaths had gotten shorter, and I felt my frown deepen. I was just tired. I was really tired of it. But even if the world passed me by, then I was satisfied knowing I'd be helping Genos, and through him, thousands of people in the process.

I kicked a stray rock on the pavement. So why did my heart still feel so heavy? Was it because I wasn't doing my part? That was why I decided to join the Association, though, so that couldn't have been it.

I stopped a moment. What was I so hung up over? I slapped my cheeks to wake myself up. "Shut up, Jade," I muttered under my breath, "you should know better than this!" I was being stupid. It was pointless to think about.

I ended up kicking the rock all the way to the facility. Once I was outside, the security camera on the corner flickered up to life, and looked me over with a scan. I grinned. "It's me Haf, you can let me in."

" _Of course ma'am,"_ the speakers buzzed through Haf's light tone. Several locks and the sounds of various weapons deactivating met my ears and I sighed with content. I loved the sound of working machinery.

The door opened, and I went through the little underground hall. More weapons and security measures were being disabled. I was still in a room where I could be easily eliminated with extremely dangerous weapons. I loved it.

As soon as that was finished, I was finally in the full facility. I went to my desk and set my two briefcases laying flat, making sure they were set the right way. I unlocked the sides of the first case just so I could proudly gaze at my newly made babies. _Click,_ one, _click,_ tw-

"You're here already?"

I jumped, slamming the locks back in place. I turned, and placed a hand on my heart, finding the resident cyborg looking at me curiously. I scowled. "You scared the crap out of me!"

He paused a moment, cocking his head to the side. "There isn't any trace of human feces-"

"It's an expression." I deadpanned, cutting him off to save face. "But yeah, I wanted to come early so I could make sure I had everything prepared."

"Everything?" He questioned, moving next to me to look on at my briefcases. "I'm assuming that's 'everything?'" He pointed.

I nodded happily. I was really excited to show them off. "Yup! Well, not necessarily… See, I need a third case for them to work. They're all meant to work in tandem, as a unit." I explained. "The third one, I left here, because while it is compressed into a large suitcase, I wouldn't be able to open it in my apartment. When it's full sized, it's pretty big." I felt like I was rambling, but I didn't particularly care. The same could be said for my random hand movements.

"I see," Genos muttered, "so what are they really?"

I grinned mirthfully, tapping my fingers against my metal desk. "Well, that would just ruin the surprise."

"It's a surprise?"

"Of course! I like to build excitement."

Genos sighed almost impatiently. What, me? I wasn't that bad, was I? "Should we get started with putting on these new arms?" He asked, crossing his arms in an ironic fashion.

I frowned. "Shouldn't we get Doctor Kuseno for that? I mean, he built these arms. I'm not sure if It's my place to exchange them. Not to mention, the time it would take me to apply them _alone?_ I don't know if you planned a set time with Saitama, but if that's the case we might be fashionably late. _Very_ fashionably late."

He tapped his fingers against his arms. A nervous quirk, I realized. What was there to be nervous about? He looked the other way, not meeting my gaze. "I was… hoping the computers would take care of it this time…"

My face lit up with enthusiasm, but I quickly backtracked, swallowing it down. "G-Genos, are you absolutely sure? This is a big thing! You haven't been repaired or checked up on by the computers in _years._ " I stressed. It didn't matter if the computers worked or not, Genos's safety always came first. And I know I pushed for him being repaired by them before; if he wasn't comfortable with it, then he didn't have to go through with it.

He showed slight hesitance, but nodded with a firm resolve. "Logically, to get over something, you have to continually expose yourself to it. I realize this is something I've been avoiding. I'd prefer to face it head on." Like all his battles, Genos was going into this with little to no prior information. But to inadvertently admit that he was afraid of being repaired by the computers (and for a good reason, no less)? I appreciated it. He was really taking a step down to even come close to saying so.

"Alright," I sighed, rubbing my hands together for warmth. He really wasn't going to be deterred from this decision, that much was apparent. "Let's get started."

We started with standard procedure. He stripped and laid on the table. Beforehand, we always did small checkups if he wasn't in after a large fight; things like can your fingers move, toes, eyes following the light, roll your neck, so on so forth. And now that the computers were fair game, I could finally turn them on for use.

I looked over the codes, my eyes going over them a good five times until I was satisfied. I pursed my lips. There was still something wrong, I didn't know what. "I'm going to get the old doc for a second," I muttered loud enough for Genos to hear.

I went searching for the good doctor, and found him quickly. He was pouring over some documents. The most recent sketches I made for Genos's arms, I realized. He looked up and a pleased look appeared on his face.

"Jade, I was just about to get you. This model is very well thought out, though I wanted to make some suggestions," he pointed to the core-energy converter in the sketch. I thought about cutting this conversation short, however I really was looking for feedback on this sketch. It was important. "This incineration cannon is extremely powerful and will be incredibly useful. However, because of it's power, you've overlooked how much energy it will expend. What you desire is a cannon that is both powerful _and_ efficient. With the way you've conceptualized this model here, the exothermic energy coupled with the blast will have an amazing capacity, but it will deplete Genos's core immediately." In other words, if he even tried to use the most powerful aspect of these arms, I'd be responsible for his death.

I winced and cursed under my breath. "What did I forget, the catalyst converter?"

"Yes, and no." He pointed to the energy pathway that would unfurl into the casing where the core would be located. "The energy that is being exchanged for power is excessive and ultimately self destructive. To rectify anything here, you need to be sure that there's a lower demand for energy, but still runs a moderate power level, do you understand?"

I nodded and tried my best to not duck my head in shame. Doctor Kuseno had a way that made learning a lesson or correcting yourself, sound like a reprimanding or a scolding. It was a bad feeling, yes, and it stung a little, but it was imperative that I learned from my mistakes; even the stupid ones. Besides, with the theoretical concepts I put into that model, I would have killed Genos without even knowing. I was glad the doctor pointed out the flaws, and I was aggravated with myself for not noticing them sooner.

The good doctor seemed to notice the change in my demeanour, and patted my arm. "It's nothing to be ashamed about," he said comfortingly, although I didn't believe it much. I was the one being reckless with my work, work that had the ability for Genos to have an early death. "It's all a matter of paying more attention to detail, isn't it?"

"Right," I nodded again, this time with a little more meekness. I felt like I was being brought back to my school days, when I was too scared to ask or answer to the teacher. Well, I decided, no more of that. "Did you still want my, 'report' on Saitama?" I asked blandly, adding air quotes to change the subject. He had been asking for it recently, although I was occupied whenever the topic did come up. Now was a good time if any.

His head inclined, and his dome like hair followed. I would have told him his hairstyle wasn't necessarily 'in' right now, but I didn't think he particularly cared. "Absolutely,"

"I can give it to you right now I guess," I muttered.

"Oh, is it typed up?" He seemed surprised that I'd take the initiative. I was almost sorry to disappoint.

"No, all verbal." I smiled crookedly. "In any case, there's not much to worry about with Saitama. He seems like a trustworthy guy, not really harmful in the sentimental kind of way. Although, he is extremely strong like Genos always says. In fact, I saw him punch the head off of this genetically mutated praying mantis like it was paper maché; you have no idea how much I thought I was imagining it afterwards." I thought I needed therapy, to be more precise. I hummed, wondering if I had anything else to add. "There's not a lot to say about him, really. All that comes to mind is his strength." Anything more was yet to be seen.

"I see." The doctor had a hand up to his chin, going over the information I conveyed to him, which wasn't actually a lot. "Was there anything you wanted to ask me?" He inquired.

"Right," I remembered why I had come to see him in the first place. "I was going to ask if you could go over the codes issued in the network concerning Genos's arm exchanging."

He raised an eyebrow in a mildly surprised manner. "He wants to work with the computers?"

"I know," I huffed a small laugh, "I could hardly believe it either, but he wants to get over it. I'm just not so sure about it, and even though I reviewed them several times, I was hoping you could take a look at the codes." Him reviewing my sketch only enforced this notion in my mind. I didn't want to accidentally get Genos killed, I thought apathetically. At least, as apathetically as I could.

Somehow they seemed like they were only words, like there was no meaning or power behind them. But the words 'killed' and 'Genos' being in the same phrase, held more than I ever hoped they would. I knew if they were said firmly, with no room for argument, that someone had died… Well, I was sure I'd never make it to that sort of circumstance. Genos wasn't the kind of person to keel over.

The good doctor followed me back out to the computers in Genos's repair room. The cyborg in question raised an eyebrow in my direction when he saw the old man away at the monitor screens, eyes flicking over each and every programming code inputted like I had been. I leaned against the table he was still laying on and crossed my arms. "I want to make sure there are no errors, you know, to make sure that you'll at least walk away from this experience happily. Don't want a grumpy Genos to fight his sensei."

He scoffed. "Are you sure this isn't some intricately concocted plan for Haf to eliminate me?" He shifted uncomfortably several times when I gave no response. "What?" He asked.

I stared at him in faux surprise. "Did you just joke?" I put a hand to cover my mouth mockingly. "How scandalous!" I couldn't even remember the last time I heard Genos say something that was even akin to a joke. Or at least something with a punch line.

"Can I not joke from time to time?" He inquired exasperatedly, seemingly upset that his witt didn't get anyone in the room chortling. It was a good thing he never pursued a career in comedy. I couldn't fathom how many tomatoes would be rocketed his way if he did.

I shrugged, smirking. "Considering you have the sense of humour of a toaster, I don't think you can."

He bristled, resenting my statement, and sighed when he realized it wasn't worth it. He was more dignified and patient than I was. I kind of envied it. "It's not like your sense of humour is much better.."

I retracted my previous thought. It was clear we were both equally dignified and patient.

"Well then," I muttered in an aghast tone, placing a hand over my heart, "it seems we might need a second opinion on that. What do you say, doctor?" I looked over to the old man, who looked like he was just finishing up going over the rest of the codes, eyes trailing from line to line.

Doctor Kuseno, who looked like he did not want to get in on our little fest, changed the subject. "I say there isn't anything to worry about over here," he smiled warmly, tilting his head in my direction. "All of your sequencing was correct, and everything should function properly."

I moved over back to the computer to check for myself. No matter how much confidence he tried to instill in me, something still felt wrong, but if he said it was alright, then… "If you say so," I muttered. "Do you want to be here for this?"

The good doctor waved me off. "No, no, I've model sheets to finish, concepts to reconsider, you know the gist of it, but if you need me…" He left with that, turning the corner to go to his work station.

I frowned. He was lying, I could tell. I passed by his model sheets earlier that week, and he surely couldn't have started on any others within the timeframe. Not because he was a slow worker, no Doctor Kuseno was a demon when it came to work ethic, but he had been focusing so much on the new arms for Genos, there was rarely any time for anything else. I was sure I'd get to the bottom of whatever he decided to lie about, though it left an uncomfortable feeling in my chest.

I redirected my attention to Genos now. He was my first priority here. "You ready?"

He left his expression even and slightly unreadable, like he was preparing himself. After several moments, with only a slight confidence I could pick up on, he nodded.

I turned my head to the ceiling slowly, to be certain my movements weren't too horribly sudden and that I was in Genos's line of sight. "Haf, activate protocol 6152, you know what to do."

" _Yes, ma'am. Protocol initiating."_ I couldn't tell if it was just me, but Haf's normally monotone voice was more enthusiastic in my ears.

Genos looked at me warily, and I grinned to try and ease some of his worries. "What exactly does this protocol entail?"

"Try to get as comfortable as you can, you'll be in this position for— Haf how long will this take?"

" _Approximately, twenty minutes."_

"Twenty minutes."

He raised a brow. "Are you really bothering on this being a surprise again? Am I obligated to wait and find out?" There was an underlying tone of annoyance with me, although it wasn't like it really mattered at the moment. It would fade in the long run.

"Oh, absolutely."

As soon as I said that, the robotic arms I'd gotten Haf to install into the ceiling extended and reached Genos's arms. Two of them clamped down on his shoulders, while in the background, two more of them brought out Genos's new arms. Folding my hands behind my back, I pointed at the pair of sleek, black arms proudly. "Although I didn't have the pleasure of making these, I did have the pleasure of naming them." I cleared my throat, and I only _wished_ Haf had some sort of stage light shining on me. "The Anti-Saitama Tactical Arms!" I exclaimed with a flourish, adding jazz hands for an extra boost of _amazingness_.

His face was blank, and for a second, I didn't think he was even going to comment on anything. The doctor worked really hard on these, and if he even dared to— "Your presentation skills need work." Of course.

I slumped slightly, holding myself halfway upright. "Thanks," I bit sarcastically, "I've been thinking about being an announcer recently, you know, from those weird infomercials, but if anyone were to save me from a horrible career choice, it would be you."

I saw something like a smirk appear on his face briefly, as he said an amused, "you're welcome."

I mirrored his expression and stretched out my back, letting out a small groan. "Alright, let me tell you what's going to happen for the next few minutes," I motioned to the arms from the ceiling and the computer I was standing at. "For the first half, Haf is basically working on removing your default arms with a precise attention to detail. Normally, with Doctor Kuseno or me doing this, we aren't able to catch all of our mistakes, no matter how minimal they are. Those mistakes build up. The second half of this is applying the AST arms— that's the Anti-Saitama Tactical arms, sorry— and since Haf can catch what mistakes I might have made, you can be sure these babies will work to their full capacity." I shrugged. "Or not; you know, the application of their power depends on you."

He paused a moment. "How powerful are they?"

I turned back to the computer as Haf fiddled with the joints and wires in Genos's default arms. "Well, you'd have to ask the doctor about that, but if you wanted my estimate, you could probably blast away a small mountain at one hundred percent."

He hummed and twitched a bit under Haf's work. He scrunched up his nose, and I held up a hand to him. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," he murmured. "It's different…"

I tilted my head to the side, wondering what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

He cleared his throat, and I could tell he wanted to lift a hand to cough into it despite his arms being occupied. "It feels different being handled by the computers rather than you or the doctor." Well that was a given, but was it a positive change, or negative? "It's not bad," he quickly interjected when I had opened my mouth to ask, "although I'm not certain if it's good, either. It's not unpleasant, though I can't say I'm very well pleased by it. It's strange." He concluded.

"Right," I nodded in understanding. Meanwhile, Haf had taken the default arms on another small table, while placing the AST arms a good distance from Genos's torso. I hadn't realized the first ten minutes had passed already. "If you ever feel like going back to manual procedure, you can always ask me." I offered.

He raised a brow with a small tilt at the corner of his lips. "I thought you were tired of that?" Genos inquired with an annoyingly smug expression.

I scowled in his direction, his accusation being exceedingly true, but my stupid pride wouldn't allow me to fall into anything like he was setting up. "No, I said Haf and the computers would be more efficient. This is for your sake, not for mine."

"Whatever you say," Genos muttered, unconvinced, shifting a bit and letting his eyes close shut. "There was something I wanted to ask you about," he said suddenly, as if he was comfortable in his current position. I hoped he was, anyway.

"Yeah? What about?"

He hummed for a moment, then continued. "Yesterday, at the Superhero Registry, only four people passed to become officially ranked heroes; Saitama-sensei, me, a monk, and a man in a suit."

My eyes widened. Had he figured me out already? At the moment, I was glad he had his eyes closed. I played it off, scoffing. "What do you mean by suit? Was there a guy in a tux who passed the tests?"

"No," he frowned. "I mean a super suit, like metal encompassing his whole body. I had assumed he was also a cyborg at first." I started bite my cheek anxiously. "The technology that man possesses… it looks like yours." Shit, shit, shit!

"So," I started slowly, trying not to make a fuss out of it, making sure that I still looked worried; and that wasn't acting. There was still a chance he didn't suspect me, although as Haf would say, it was a 90% possibility he did. "What do you suppose that means?"

He opened his eyes to look at me again, and I was unnerved at the fire in his eyes. "I considered several possibilities of who he was and how he attained that suit. Most of my assumptions felt too far off. I even considered that you might have entered the registry."

I laughed it off, shaking my hands in front of my face. "Me?" I pointed to myself in an overly incredulous fashion. "You thought I would join?"

His lip twitched upwards. "I know, it was ridiculous of me to think." He turned stone faced once more, and spoke with more fervency. "But considering the facility was hacked not too long ago, I find it the most reasonable explanation for technology matching yours at the registry, that the hackers did manage to find interesting data, then used that data to build that suit, and registered as a hero."

"What's this guy's name, do you know?" I was asking about myself. Do you know how weird that is? I already knew about this, yet I had to fake it. I didn't even know why I kept on lying! I should have told Genos, I really should have. I registered as a hero, but my registration got screwed up, and now I'm a registered hero of the opposite gender. But the thought of how hard it'd be to actually confront myself into telling him that… I didn't want to. I was scared.

"Jason."

"What do you plan to do about it?" This was for both me, and my alter ego. I could avoid Genos as Jason at all times if I had to, but that would probably make Jason more suspicious in his eyes.

"I want to find out who he is, of course, and although I haven't come up with a plan as to how to achieve that, I'll tell you when I do."

I nodded appreciatively. "Thanks."

We spent the remainder of the twenty minutes in a semi-comfortable silence with the machines responsible with Genos's procedure whirring in the background. With nothing for me to do but wait, I could certainly see how this felt different to Genos. There was definitely a difference for me, and like him, I didn't know if it was good or bad. It left me more time to think about Jason, though it was certainly something I didn't want to do at the moment. The process was at least faster, and soon enough, Genos was standing up, with his clothes back on as he rolled his shoulders experimentally, as if he was testing his arms already.

"So?" I probed, my eyes trailing over the sleek, black metal plating. "What do you think?"

He stretched out his mechanical deltoids, all the way to his adductor pollicis. He looked at the back of his hand with a disinclination. "Really?" He asked, showing me his fist.

On the back of both of his hands was the name of the arms, and their model number. The AST arms model number happened to be TVPS-00. "What?" I asked innocently, raising my hands up in surrender. "I didn't even engrave that in there!" When his glare didn't lessen, I lowered my hands, desperately spewing whatever came to mind first. "...Think of it like this; you're repping your sensei out there! Even if you are fighting him with these, you can show him how strong you are, and how you deserve to be his disciple!"

"I didn't think about it like that…" He murmured tentatively, holding his hand to his chin.

I patted his shoulder good naturedly and moved forward to my little cubicle in the other room. "It's why I'm here," I breathed, happy I had gotten out of it. I totally bull shitted my way through that one. I heard his footsteps trailing behind me and I took it as a sign we'd be going off soon to… whichever location Genos picked for him and Saitama.

I reached under my desk, struggling to find the handle for my suitcase. Fingers grasping for it, I finally found it and pulled it out with a little trouble. With a heave, I managed to place it on my desk, and if the creaking coming from it was any indication, the load I'd be carrying would be massive.

"This is all of it?" Genos walked around my cases with only a small glance of interest.

"Yeah," I sighed, picking up my first two briefcases. With the two of them occupying both my left and right hands, I wouldn't be able to carry my suitcase. I transferred the one from my left to my right, and tried to fit my hand around both handles. I winced when both of the briefcases clacked together loudly. I reached out my hand to get my suitcase, but a blur of black had beat me to it. I turned around to find the resident cyborg carrying my last case. I raised a brow quizzically. "I think I've got it Genos, you don't need to help me."

"You exceeded the weight limit," was his automatic response.

I took on a more confused and offended expression, and took a threatening step towards him. "Are you calling me fat?"

"No, I'm saying you exceeded the weight limit." I felt my eyebrow twitch.

"Meaning?" I prodded.

"The necessary weight limit someone of your size should carry," he clarified. "If you take much more, you could possible strain something, most likely causing shoulder impingement syndrome, a herniated disk, or something of the like."

I shook my head, closing my eyes. It still didn't make much sense to me. There was no point in arguing with Genos. "Alright, whatever. You take that one, I'll take these two?"

He nodded. "Let's go."

As we neared the exit of the facility, I banged one of my cases against some of the metal structure of a corner, the sound of it reverberating within the facility. "Hey, doc! We're going to be out for a while, don't wait up!" I heard a muffled response from him somewhere, but I couldn't trace it all the way back to him clearly. I assumed he bid us adieu.

Going back through the small hallway to the exit, multiple tumblers fell away as we passed, and Genos tilted his head up to the ceiling where one of the security cameras was. "Haf, lock up after us." He ordered.

" _Of course, Mr. Genos,"_ Haf responded.

Genos's gaze turned back to mine to find that I was smirking at him. "What?" He asked with slight irritability.

"Nothing," I waved off, smirk still plastered, "just a pleasant surprise, is all."

His eyes narrowed, but said nothing more of it.

Despite what conversation we may have had on the journey there, I wasn't very sure as to where we ended up location wise after that, but I did know that it was fairly far from a city, and it was much like a canyon; dry and dead. I was panting, and sweating, and I felt like all energy I had for the day was drained from out of me instantly.

"Do you have any water?" I asked pitifully, raising a hand up with what motivation I didn't have.

"No," Genos announced in a bored tone, and if it was any more possible, I felt my throat shrivel.

"Ah, damn…" I wheezed, hands placed on my legs with my head tucked between my knees. "Oh well…" I stretched out my back, placing my hands on my lower hips, then stretched out my arms, reaching over my head. "What time did you say Saitama was coming here?"

He pulled out his flip phone to check the time. I didn't understand why he wasn't keen on letting me make a touchscreen phone for him that would be compatible with his arms, but to each his own, I supposed. "In about ten minutes, why?"

I gathered my briefcases up again, and nodded at the suitcase Genos was carrying earlier. "That should be enough time to set up, I think. Here, take that and help me get up there." I pointed to one of the tall edges of the canyon. The way the place was set up was that it was much like the aftermath of a fissure of some sort. There were two upper edges, and the place I assumed Genos wanted to fight Saitama was the large inner depression of it.

"H-hey, wait-!" I croaked, feeling myself getting lifted off of my feet. The wind quickly rushed into my ears, and I closed my eyes tightly in trepidation. I vaguely noticed my hands were wrapped tightly around a cool, hard surface, my grip still being on my briefcases. Before I knew it, I was placed back on my feet, and the thump at my side felt like the suitcase had been dropped. I opened my eyes, and Genos was crossing his arms in front of me. "Shit, that was fast…" My breath hitched a bit, and I could still hear the sound of my heart beating hard in my ears. I attempted to tame my terribly windswept hair.

"So what is in these cases of yours?"

My attention was redirected to what he said, and like a flip was switched, I was back in work mode. "Right! Uh, okay…" I opened the two briefcases, setting them on the ground, and working with their locking systems. "So this one," I motioned to the one on my right, "is filled with drones." I pointed at each one individually and lovingly. "They're all going to give me an aerial view of your fight from different angles, so we can properly analyze it afterwards. The big one there I call, Big Mama, and her four little ones are Shabby, Trissy, Bass, and Uma." He looked at me like I was half crazy, half brilliant, which, in a not so careful consideration of all the facts, it probably wasn't that far off. I moved onto the next case. "This one contains a portable computer system with which I can contact and consult with Haf where it also receives the signals sent by the drones' cameras, so I can observe and conclude on results from your fight while it's still going on." He seemed a little more pleased by the information.

"And what about the suitcase?"

"That," I pointed, moving closer to it to unlock its system. The suitcase unfolded from plate to plate into a large dome, managing to cover the both of us, letting out a light from the small glass window behind me. Yeah, this would definitely not fit in my dainty, little apartment. I motioned to the area surrounding us. "Is a shelter for me to work in." I walked around, and tested out its spaciousness. It was pretty spacey. "I figured your fight would be in a pretty large scale, so I'm not taking any chances with what might end up in the crossfire."

"Wow…" I wouldn't have called it gawking unless I didn't know Genos, but I had the slightest inclination to call what he was doing gawking. "This is a lot…"

I grinned triumphantly. I felt like I had really surprised him this time. It only meant that I was indeed improving myself, something which I was extremely pleased by. "Well, what did you expect of me? Did you think I was going to just bring a notepad and a pair of binoculars?"

"Truthfully, yes," he told me in all bluntness. I made a small noise of protest. "But this is impressive… Thank you." He was thanking me? That was… That felt like a major accomplishment.

I felt my heart swell, and I rubbed the back of my head bashfully. "You don't need go thanking me, after all I-"

"Yes, after all, this will help me discover the secrets to Sensei's power, myself. I won't be able to thank you enough."

I was taken aback, and my mouth bobbed up and down like that of a fish until I could find my voice again. It wasn't at all close as to what I was going to say."Y-you're welcome," I gulped down, feeling my grin slowly lessen. I didn't know why I felt disappointed, all I knew was that I was.

He moved closer to the small glass window in the shelter and peered out of it. "I think he's here already!" He exclaimed, an obvious excitement filling his tone. "I'll go meet Sensei," he announced. He turned back to me holding his hand out warily. "You will be okay here, right?"

"Y-yeah," I stuttered, kicking the tip of my shoes against the ground, "I'll be fine!"

"Right, I'll-" he tried to feel around for the exit of the shelter, and I almost felt bad for wanting to laugh. I pushed him aside and got it for him.

"Here," I murmured, holding the curved door open for him. On the way out he managed to hit his head against the top of the doorframe. I made a mental notes to make the shelter taller if only for Genos's sake.

At the last second, when he was about to jump back down into the depression of the canyon, I grabbed his shoulder to which he looked back in a mild surprise. "What is it?" He asked, and I could feel myself wanting to pull back my hand already.

"Look, just," I puffed out a some air to move a few strands of hair out of my face, "be careful, alright? I know this is a way for you to measure Saitama's strength, but don't overdo it. ...I don't want to go back to the facility alone." It was a tad bit too serious for me to say, but I sincerely meant it. I didn't want to see Genos get hurt like he had been when he came back from monster hunts, or from taking down the evil organizations like he did. I just wanted to help him this one time; I wanted to know what it was like to stand near him in a simulated battle and how it felt. I pressed my hand harder against the top of his shoulder.

With a hesitance that didn't feel good, he nodded and told me not to worry, not comprehending that it would only make me worry more, then jumped back down to greet Saitama.

Left by my lonesome once more, I thought more about the situation between Jason and Genos. What was I going to do about it? First Yonten had moved into my apartment building, and now Genos wanted to find out who was behind the mask? I shook my head. This was not the time to worry about Jason's side of things right now. I was Jade, and I needed to set up.

I sighed and brought out my briefcase with the drones and activated their systems, releasing them into the air. I took my other briefcase with the small computer system in it, and brought it back into the shelter to set it up, closing the door on the way in. Once the system was functional, I had all five eyes in the sky, from Big Mama, all the way to Uma. I placed a headset on which had been in the case with the drones. "Is the bug I placed sticking?"

" _Yes ma'am, the auditory computer node you placed on Mr. Genos's shoulder is functioning properly. Have you checked line two?"_ Haf asked from the headset I put on. I had decided to leave my earpiece at home in the morning.

"On it," I mumbled, typing away on the touchscreen keyboard of the computer system.

With my fingers clacking away at the glass screen, after only a few moments, noise blasted into my ears. I winced, taking the headset off my ears before haphazardly turning down the volume. Genos's voice came on, but there was some sort of background noise competing within the frequencies.

" _...we've set up a proper procedure with which we can collect data from you, Sensei."_

"What is that noise?" I muttered irritably. It was some sort of thrumming noise. It wasn't, horribly kill yourself with a spoon bad, but it was a petty thing. It didn't mean I was satisfied with it, however.

I was already typing my way through isolating its sound waves when Haf interrupted my thoughts. " _I do believe that is Mr. Genos's core you are hearing, ma'am."_

I listened intently on it again, and found Haf was right. The noise was unmistakable now that I'd thought about it. In fact, instead of growing more annoying, it was more… comforting, in a sense.

" _Oh, so that means that mechanic girl is here, right? What was her name again…?"_ I almost forgot about their conversation. Saitama's voice was audible, yet a bit far away. It was logical, considering the paces Genos set between the two of them. The bug was noise sensitive, although it wasn't _that_ sensitive.

I positioned one of the drones, Trissy, so that she could focus in on Saitama from his side. I adjusted the microphone from my headset as Genos continued to speak.

" _My mechanic's name is Jade, Sensei."_

"Hey, Saitama," I drolled. From what I could pick up on from my screen, he had looked both ways to see where my voice was coming from. His eyes eventually locked onto Trissy. Funnily enough, he almost seemed to perk up at what technology was in front of him.

" _What is that?"_ He said with a smile that somehow still seemed somewhat blank.

" _That is a drone, Sensei. Jade has stationed them all over the location for observation purposes. They are going to ensure we get as much information from this as possible."_

" _Right, right!"_ He snapped his fingers as if remembering something. " _She was the one who fixed my ceiling. Thanks for that."_

"No problem," I chirped through Trissy's speakers. "If you ever need anymore help, you can always call me. I only charge for the low, low price of free."

He contemplated my offer, with a gleam of almost interest in his eyes. " _I do like that price…"_

Genos, who seemed only slightly upset by the steer of conversation, was on his phone, and through Bass's eyes, I could see he was on the internet, which did leave me quite befuddled. I couldn't imagine the service he was receiving was the best. " _On the website of the Superhero Registry… We've been ranked last in the Class S and the Class C rankings respectively,"_ then under his breath, he muttered, " _even that monk and that man in the suit were placed in the last two rankings of Class A."_

With Jason being brought up again, it was at that point, I knew I wasn't going to be very interested in the following conversation. I could save my energy to analyze when the real fight began. I muted the line.

" _Do you no longer wish to follow their line of conversation, ma'am?"_ I wasn't very surprised Haf brought it up. If anything was important, they would want to be the one to manage it, especially if Haf knew I didn't have the time, or in this case, energy, to do it.

"Not really. I think I'll save my eyes for their fight, you know?" I leaned against the table that extended from the shelter, the same one which I placed the computer system on. On screen from almost all of the drones' angles, Genos and Saitama walked around the canyon until they were satisfied with their positions. They were quite a ways away from each other.

" _Do you wish for me to document their conversation for you to refer to later?"_

I crossed my arms, my eyes narrowing on Genos's movements. "Do whatever you think is important."

" _I will endeavour to do my best to document their conversation."_

I snorted quietly. Oh Haf, I thought, you really are the best. I knew I probably wouldn't be interested in it at the present moment, I could always use a reference, though.

Back on screen, through all five points of view, Big Mama, the video being taken from right above everything, caught sight of Genos shifting his position, the thermal energy in his arms and chest building up to emit light energy. I unmuted the line, and I could hear the thrumming of his core, all the way to the buildup of heat in his body.

I switched to Uma's cameras, and immediately, Genos shot a blast from the back of his shoulders to rocket at Saitama. I winced at the amount of noise meeting my ears. Genos's leg was out to meet Saitama's face, and I rubbed my eyes when it didn't connect. The cyborg was back on the rebound, using the cannons in his arms to redirect himself, and sent a kick over Saitama's head again. It missed. Again. I wasn't seeing things, right?

Even so, with more force, the resident cyborg was pushing himself in circles around Saitama, trying to fake him out, I thought. I switched to Shabby's camera, near the back of where the Genos was. He shot himself upwards, raising his leg, and sent himself back down to meet the ground which quaked under his feet. The sound was monstrous, and I could feel the effects all the up in the shelter, struggling to keep balance. Saitama still dodged.

I switched back to Big Mama's cameras to get a bigger view of the sky. Saitama was up in the air with other pieces of debris. An orange light shone from the dust cloud Genos created. A large blast erupted from it, and I thought with certainty, there was no way the bald man could have avoided that. He had proved me wrong once more. He landed feet in front of Genos, his back to him.

Trissy's cameras were operational, and through them, I took a look at the damage Genos had created. I gasped. A large portion of the top of the canyon was eliminated in a semicircle shape. Most of the dirt was still scorching, gleaming orange.

Over the audio, I heard Genos cough, and from Bass's cameras, he was coughing up steam. Don't overdo it, I chided mentally, don't get yourself killed. Genos hunched over for a moment, then struck the ground around the same area where he had left it with a giant burn mark. I caught on to what he was doing, quickly. He was taking the thermal energy he had created from the ground to convert it to extra energy. But what kind?

My question was immediately answered when he blurred out of focus from all of the drones' cameras. Saitama too. I couldn't keep track of them, they were moving ridiculously fast. I could only assume of what was happening, and I didn't know if I liked it. What I believed was happening was that Genos was still keeping up his frontal attacks on Saitama, and his sensei was dodging them all, with little to no effort.

I couldn't believe it. Of course, I had a good grasp of what Saitama's strength level was, but for it to be like this? For Genos not being able to land a single hit? It felt impossible.

Craters appeared on the side of the canyon, and in a moment, I had visuals on Genos again. In the middle of another blow, he paused, looking at the hole with no bald man in it. His head snapped to the side, looking at the same time I was. I checked all over from each camera until Uma was locked on. Saitama was… running? With the speed to match that of a cheetah's?

Genos landed right in front of Saitama, and locked his arms together. The metal plates unfolded from his shoulders, to his arms, to his damn knuckles, all at once to reveal the crazy amount of artillery hidden in only two cybernetic appendages. " _Incinerate!"_ I heard him exclaim, and the size of the blast which erupted didn't rightfully fit the word giant. Meanwhile, the connection I had with the audio bug was destabilizing. It was becoming less clear, more loud, yet I was still able to make out the sound of Genos's core.

There was no way Saitama had gotten out of that one. The sound of a tap on the bug alerted me, and with Big Mama's overhead cameras, Saitama had patted Genos's shoulder. The cyborg's arms shifted back to normal quickly, as the bald man's voice came over the line. " _Okay, I win, so…"_ Genos went for a strike, blowing dust in its wake, and Saitama had once again zipped out of the way.

As the remnants of steam wisped off of him to go into the air, Genos turned slowly and spoke with a serious conviction. " _Teacher, have you forgotten the rules of this sparring session?"_ He began to list them off. " _Dodge every attack you're able to dodge. Fight seriously without fooling around. Don't hold back because of me. And… continue fighting until I'm unable to fight."_ My eyes widened considerably.

I grabbed the mic on my headset to bring it closer to my mouth. "Idiot!" I hissed. "That's not a sparring session, that's a death wish!" They both continued on, as though my voice had never been heard. In fact, the connection between my computer, the drones, and the bug was not going well, so it was a possibility that my voice hadn't gone through any of the drones' speaker systems at all. I leaned back in horror. Genos was going to die, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

" _Show me no mercy. Those were the rules, Sensei-"_

Saitama blurred out of sight, and I brought my hands to cover my mouth as my heart pounded. He was back in front of Genos, and in shock, Genos lashed out with a kick. It only connected with an afterimage, and in miliseconds, Saitama was behind Genos who was in an unsafe stance. In that position, he was a sitting duck. He's going to die, I chanted like a mantra, he's going to die. I felt sick to my stomach.

Saitama reeled back his fist slowly, and struck. I covered my eyes, and heavy sounds came over the line for eight seconds, each one feeling like a lifetime. By the time it stopped, I figured I'd hear Genos's core again. But I couldn't hear it, I thought in despair. I couldn't hear it.

"Genos!" I cried, throwing off my headset, opening the door to the shelter, dashing out, and frantically trying to find a way down from the ledge. Screw it, my mind jeered, I just had to jump. Looking to my far left, the canyon ledge curved. It wasn't there before, yet I didn't bother to think about where it came from; I didn't have the time. Screw jumping, my thoughts screamed, I could slide down that! By the time I got down, my hand was scratched and bleeding, and dirt covered parts of my coat and pants.

I tumbled during my run, and Genos was standing still, hair swept back, facing the large depression of the ledge which was now behind me. I couldn't even confirm he was alive. He could've been dead on his feet. There was only one way to test it. "I need to hear it, I've gotta hear it…" I whispered. I ran past and around him, and I pressed my head against his chest. His core was thrumming. I breathed a sigh of relief. I could hear it. Oh, thank God I could hear it. The world around me was muffled. As long as I could hear his core, that was all that mattered.

"Jade?" I came back to his attention, slowly, not wanting the noise of his core to lessen while I concentrated on talking to him. "You're crying."

I blinked away a wetness in my eyes, a wetness I didn't even realize was there. My heart continued to thud against my rib cage, and I wiped away my tears. "Y-yeah," I hiccupped. I winced when I curled my right hand into a fist. "Sorry, I thought… I couldn't see you for a while. I assumed the worst."

"I'm fine," he insisted, then took my wrist in concern. "You're bleeding. Did you hurt yourself?"

It was my turn to insist I was fine, and although Genos worried like a mother hen, I eventually got him to back off. "I'm just really happy you're okay," I breathed heavily, trying to regulate my lungs again. "You really scared me. I was serious when I said I didn't want to go back to the facility alone, you know?" He nodded after a moment of contemplation.

"Hey, do you guys not want udon?"

Genos and I both turned to Saitama who had shouted across the distance he had made between us. I looked on with a more amused grin and turned back to Genos. "Want udon?"

He smirked in return. "Yeah."

* * *

 **At the end of the day, Genos and Jade are just two kids concerned about each other. Also, did you guys notice the lack of flashbacks? From your reviews and careful consideration, I figured I'd leave them out for a while, just until there are chapters that really need them to add to the story, otherwise they'd detract from them.**

 **Also, this chapter was another 20 or so pages. I thought I would have made this another 5000 or so word chapter, but there was more to this chapter than I thought. I'm sorry I haven't updated in awhile too. I hope this chapter made up for it. This chapter had a lot of Genos and Jade interaction, so I was pretty glad about that. And we have more stuff about Yonten, and Genos is suspicious of Jason being their hacker. And of course, the great fight between Genos and Saitama.**

 **The next two chapters are going to be overall a small part, but important to the story nonetheless. It's going to heavily involve Jason, and the Heroes' Association! Also, not that this is going to be in the next two chapters, but for a much, much later arc, I've found a way to incorporate an OPM world Civil War, based off of Marvel's Civil War. So just know that is something to be excited about in a much later chapter. Probably won't be happening until after the Sea King Arc, or around that general time.**

 **A big, huge, enormous thank you to everyone who reviewed! I appreciate it immensely!**

 **supermeg16-** Jade's relationship with Haf is always fun to write. And I totally agree, puns are amazing.

 **xGuiltyXGigglesx03-** Thanks! I'm glad you think Genos and Saitama are in character! Even though they are major parts of the story, I always find it a bit challenging to find them through it all. And finding a fanfiction with a good sense of proper grammar is pretty difficult, but it IS fanfiction, so you always have to search!

 **Hispanicin-** AHHH! YOU LOVE IT?! THANK YOU FOR LOVING IT! AHHH!

 **Bob (Guest)-** Thanks a lot for your three reviews! Majorly appreciated! And I really appreciate your criticisms. I'll never learn if my mistakes aren't pointed out, so I do appreciate the advice, and I will definitely try to improve the entertainment value for future chapters. Your reviews were actually what I was really looking for in terms of criticisms. I want Jason to keep a balance, definitely. Obviously, Jason is going to be able to fight off a few monsters (not the ones in cannon though, dear god) but ultimately, leaving the big monsters to the big guys. Jason will have moments in cannon, but nothing too major to take the spotlight from Genos or Saitama. Thanks again, though! Your words really helped me reconsider some thoughts of mine!

 **Reviews are love and motivation!**


	7. A High Before a Drop

_"Power is so characteristically calm, that calmness in itself has the aspect of strength,"_ \- Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

* * *

What was supposed to be lunch last night had turned into a late evening dinner. As it turned out, the location Genos had decided on was further from the rural areas than we had previously thought. The walk hadn't been as bad as it had been in getting there at first, at least. So by the time we had gotten to the udon place Saitama recommended, it was very apparent that only one of our little group of three was severely starving. And it was neither Saitama nor Genos.

The two of them had decided on testing their mettle against the restaurant's challenge. An entire bucket of spicy udon. Not the small kind of sand pails either. Large. Extra large. I, myself had decided on a medium sized bowl of niiza carrot udon. Although I was hungry, a medium bowl was more than enough. Like phở, the serving sizes were large no matter what size you chose, so a medium was technically a hefty large to me.

So when Genos was finishing his udon by slurping it from the bucket, and Saitama had tapped out from the challenge with a noodle or a piece of snot I thought I could see hanging from his nose, I lost what appetite I might have once had. And I mourned my poor stomach.

It was around that time too, that we had heard sharp gasps and uncertain whisperings coming from the staff and clientele of the establishment. I didn't bother turning to see if it was really anyone of interest. It turns out it had been, and I was gaping as he had addressed Genos. I didn't know who he was, all I knew was he was ridiculously attractive. Then he introduced himself as Class A Rank 1 hero, Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask. I was positively flushed the entire time he was there, like I was in a trance.

At the same time, there was a part of me that detested his presence outright. I didn't know where it came from. It was instinctual and had nothing to do with his appearance. I recognized the same hostility in Genos, and it was when the blue haired man said he wanted to talk to the blond cyborg outside, and Saitama had said something about rookie crushers that I knew where the source of my unknown vexation was. I silently swore to myself, if he did anything to hurt Genos… It almost surprised me in a way. My infatuation for any man I found remotely captivating was overpowered by care for a friend.

When the two of the more well known heroes exited the building to go out back, I let out a sigh and murmured my worry to Saitama.

"He's probably fine," he had said, drinking up the rest of his water and crunching on the leftover ice cubes in his glass.

"That's just it," I tapped my fingers on the hardwood surface of the table, trying to find anything to keep me distracted. "I want to know one hundred percent that he'll be okay."

"You know him, don't you?" There was that blank look on his face again, the one I wasn't able to read. He could have either been asking me out of curiosity, or maybe he actually wanted to comfort me. I didn't know.

I felt irked for some reason. I knew Genos for well over four years now, so I could more than safely say I knew him. "He's my best friend," I admitted impulsively. Maybe we hadn't started out that way, but I knew during our time with each other and with the doctor, we had grown. And maybe Genos didn't think of me as his best friend, but I knew I must have been at least a friend. I knew I was more than a mechanic or benefactor. The banter we held with one another was something we just didn't do with other people.

It was weird to say it out loud like that, and saying it made me think more on how true it was. Genos _was_ my best friend. The only other person my age who I could relate to, who I could share and divulge and rant to. And I was his ear whenever he needed to get something off of his chest. But it was so candid of me to say. It was… kind of nice.

"Huh," Saitama uttered, scratching his cheek and rocking back and forth in his chair. I waited for him to say anything else. I stared. He avoided my gaze, continuing to scratch his cheek. My eyes narrowed and I stared harder. No change.

I let out a puff of air defeatedly. He wasn't going to say anything else, although maybe I could ask him something I was wondering about. "Hey, Saitama?" He hummed, a sign he was kind of paying attention at the least. "Remember when I swung by your apartment after the Hero Registry and I said you were going to be a great sensei for Genos?" I waited for him to nod, and sure enough, there was a small tilt of his head. "I was just wondering, what do you intend to teach him?" I smiled, leaning forward slightly in excitement.

It may have been too soon to ask considering he had sparred with Genos only hours earlier from my asking, but he had to have something, right? He could have picked up from Genos's fighting patterns, learned what could be improved. That was what a good analytical teacher would do, right?

The bald man let out a sigh through his nostrils, a serious expression washing over his face as he folded his hands out in front of him. This was the same face, I realized, the same one when I realized he had been terrifying instead of terrifyingly handsome. The atmosphere seemed to shift, and Saitama opened his mouth to talk. "I guess I have to be honest with you, huh…" My smile turned down to a frown. This didn't sound good. "Truthfully, I don't know if I can teach Genos anything."

"O-oh," I murmured tenderly, feeling disappointed. I was worried. Saitama was strong, there was no other way to describe it, and I couldn't deny it, but could he really not teach Genos? And what would Genos say if he knew the man he so wanted to really be his sensei, couldn't teach him anything? "Okay," I breathed, trying to come up with something desperately, to grasp for something to convince him otherwise. Genos— he needed this. I wasn't about to let go of what he was determined to get. "I know you can't really do anything for him physically— that's what he has me and Doctor Kuseno for— but you can still do something right? Up there?" I tapped at my temple, hoping he understood what I was trying to get at. I was just making this up as I went.

He tilted his head, his serious expression once again turning blank, his arms crossed against his chest, and a thoughtful frown tugged at the corners of his lips. "What do you mean?"

That's what I was hoping you knew, I thought. "Uh, well," I rubbed my wrists, moving my jacket's sleeves up to my elbows. It was getting a little warm. I really should have taken it off from the beginning like Genos had said. "I— crap, what do they call it? You know!" I started snapping my fingers, willing the words to come to the forefront of my brain as if to jog my memory. "M-mental training, that's it! Rigorous mental training! See, like those movies, right? I'm sure you've trained your body too, and it must have had some sort of mental strain, but nothing like a good mind to rest on your shoulders! So, maybe you could do that." I rushed and slurred through my words, the lot of them jumbling together, just so that I could stop talking as soon as possible. I only hoped my point got across.

He seemed to consider it for a few moments, leaning back in his chair, hooking his arm around it, and nodded his head a bit. "I guess," he surmised.

With that, my excitement seemed to grow once more, like air was being blown back into a balloon. He was really going to teach Genos! Well, no. _Maybe_ he was going to teach Genos! With a good chance! I grinned, wiping the not so imaginary sweat from my forehead. "Awesome! You have no idea how much this'll help! God, I even have a whole list of things I wish Genos would learn!" Of course I had a list. I had a lot of lists. I made them often as a way to simmer down, to vent when I didn't have anyone to rant to. Genos's carelessness just happened to be one of the points on _his_ list.

Saitama seemed to perk up for some reason. Was he also inspired by the prospect of teaching Genos now that he had an inkling of an idea? "List?" He inquired, resting his hand on his fist. "You have one? Can I see it?" There was something like an inquisitive look on his face, and I could only feel compelled to get it to him.

I nodded. "Yeah, I-!" I stopped mid sentence and turned as the people in the establishment began to murmur again. Genos came walking back in, not a scratch on his arms, and no trace of any kind of scuff marks on his clothes. I was relieved, and I felt my shoulder drop. Momentarily, I turned my attention back to Saitama before going to Genos again. "I'll get it to you later." I waved at Genos with a grin as he took his seat beside me. "So you beat up the hot guy, huh? Shame, but I guess he deserved it."

He raised a brow, folding his hands in his lap. "I didn't beat him up,"

I blinked, and tilted my head questioningly. Saitama seemed as confused as me, maybe less since he had more of an idea than I did. "So, he wasn't here to fight?" He asked, shaking his glass filled with only a few more ice cubes. "What gives?"

"In short," Genos said, gaining somewhat of a suspicious look on his face, "he came to welcome me."

Hearing the sure footfalls of shoes on wooden planks, I tuned out of the conversation to see three women approaching our table. Upon the end of Saitama's confused inquiry of what welcoming Genos meant, one of the younger girls assumed the blond cyborg was friends with Sweet Mask, and asked to shake his hand, which was then followed by more people asking to shake his hand, or even stopped by to say hello to thank him for his service as a hero.

I had teased him about it on the way home, saying he had an ever growing fan club now, thanks to association from the blue haired man. Genos scoffed, and told me sarcastically he hadn't seen anyone gathering for me. By that time, we had also said goodnight to Saitama who was on his way back to his apartment. Me and the resident cyborg, however? We were still having our normal banter.

"Well, all I'm saying is that my udon was much better than your bucket of spice strings," I was walking with my hands at the back of my head like I didn't have a care in the world, and it certainly felt like I didn't. There were no worries at the forefront of my mind. All I was concentrated on was that feeling of giddiness I always had whenever I was having a good time. It was like an exciting calm before a bad storm, if that made any sense. Like a high before coming back down to earth. And all I had to focus on was a jovial (more on my end than his) conversation with Genos, who was carrying all three of my cases.

"How would you know? You didn't even try any." He pointed out, as if what I was saying was blasphemy. How dare I insult his spicy udon?

I tutted him, wagging my finger in his face. "O ye of little faith," I crooned like an old sailor, "did you really think I wouldn't swipe some while you weren't looking? Food always tastes better when it isn't yours."

"No, that's impossible," Genos argued with a curious expression, "I finished the entire serving. It's not possible you'd have taken even a millimetre of any of my noodles." His hand went to his chin inquisitively, and I suppressed the urge to laugh at how seriously he was taking this, like he had failed a mission to keep me from infiltrating his compound of udon noodles.

I shrugged dismissively, somewhat satisfied I managed to give him a fair shock. "I never said it was _your_ food."

Genos stilled and stopped walking. Looking back from where I was ahead, I noticed and walked back to his front. "Jade, please tell me you didn't." His gaze was worried, like I had committed a fraudulent crime. Surely taking a small piece of food from his sensei hadn't bothered him so much.

"Don't worry," I sighed softly, frowning in contemplation, "Saitama noticed but he wasn't mad." I even offered to give him a bit of mine as compensation.

"That's not it." He stated, looking down at his feet. His fingers were curled into fists. He honestly could not have looked any more troubled than he did at the moment.

"Then what is?"

Genos took a deep breath. "You potentially interrupted the circulation of Saitama-sensei's diet."

I balked. "W-what…?!" He was not serious, there was no way!

"You potentially interrupted the circulation of sensei's diet," he repeated with a raised brow.

"I heard what you said!" I squawked, trying to calm myself down before I did something regrettable. I rubbed my temple. Gain composure, remain calm, I thought. I forced a grin on my face. Just keep grinning. With a sweetness that was almost deadly, I spoke up again. "If I promise not to ever touch Saitama's food ever again, will you let this go?"

He thought it over. "That's satisfactory," he nodded.

"Good," I said, and under my breath I bitterly added, "ass…"

"Did you say something...?"

"Nope!" I scratched at the back of my head, deciding that since we were on the subject of Saitama, I might as well have continued with it. "Anyway, I know I've only really looked at your fight with Saitama once, but I might have a hypothesis as to how he became so strong, besides— you know, that is was solely caused by his whole muscle training regiment thing."

Genos looked at me with open interest, telling me to go on. I looked around us, to make sure no one was going to hear. If Saitama's strength was going to be discussed between the two of us, it needed to be in a secure location. Frowning, I told him the information could possibly be delicate, maybe we should talk about it at the facility. Genos had slapped his forehead, wondering why he hadn't thought of saying so earlier. If anyone had information concerning his sensei's secrets, it wouldn't spell for good news.

By the time we had reached the facility, it was even darker outside, maybe past midnight, while beside me, I felt like I could hear Genos's core thrum in excitement. I had laughed. It was childlike in a sense. Childlike was not a word one would use in describing the blond cyborg very often. It was endearing.

I clasped my hands, sitting at my desk with Genos in front of me as he set down the cases. "This is only a hypothesis, so even if it does end up being wrong, we'll have to go back to the drawing board. You know that, right?"

"As long as it's plausible, I don't think I really care," he breathed in a blunt tone. "If it gives me any clue as to how Sensei is so strong, it will be worth it."

Letting a smile grace my face, I felt somewhat proud. As long as it was plausible… "Right," I pulled up a few pages on the Internet about the ten percent myth, and showed them to Genos on the monitor of my computer, "basically, my hypothesis banks entirely on the ten percent myth. Briefly explained, it's believed that humans can only use up to ten percent of their brains at a time." I scrolled down on the page and highlighted a passage. "The thing is, is that this is a pretty commonly used trope in the media, and the theory has been disproved multiple times." I could feel Genos's dissatisfaction roll off of him in waves. " _But_ ," I interjected between him opening his mouth, "tests have proven that people used more than ten, but less than twenty percent of their brains when completing mental or physical chores."

His eyes lit up as he caught on to what I was getting at. "So you think Saitama-sensei is using more than a limited percent of his brain than a normal person is supposed to? That he's broken a set human limit?"

"You hit the nail on the head," I nodded, "only this hypothesis is still full of holes, and can easily be poked through. It's all I've got though." I sighed, looking down at my folded hands in my lap. I had wished I could come up with more. I was actually kind of disappointed with myself.

"No," I looked up at Genos and was surprised to see an awe inspiring look on his face. I could see it; he was looking at gold. "It's a good start, great even. This theory could be more than plausible and we haven't even taken a look at the recordings of Sensei's and my fight yet!" There was an uncontrollable amount of joy on his face. Someone who hadn't known him for as long as I did wouldn't know, in fact he would probably look blank like Saitama, but never had I ever seen or heard Genos being this happy. It made me feel like I was on top of the world right there with him.

I rubbed the back of my head, ruffling up my hair with a sheepish grin. "Well I'm glad watching all those sci-fi movies last week pulled off somehow. There's this one I'd think you'd like, it's called…" I was cut off by my own yawn and I checked the time at the bottom of my monitor.

" _Ms. Valles, it has struck half past midnight. I do advise a safe departure home._ " Haf chimed in from the ceiling speakers.

"Yeah," I squinted at the blurry numbers on screen, "I was just about to say." I squinted further. Either my eyes were really tired, or I needed to wear my reading glasses more often.

As I stood up from my chair, I noticed that to my right, Genos did too. "I can walk you home," he offered, "it's much too dark outside, and it's a long way."

"Nah," I shrugged. I covered my mouth as another yawn escaped me. "Besides, we still need to exchange your arms. It won't be comfortable to sleep in the AST arms." I tried to lead him to his repair room, but he wouldn't budge.

Sternly, he said, "You need to sleep. Go home. Haf will take care of it."

My eyes widened for a brief moment before turning back to their normal size. There was no way Genos was so trusting of Haf already despite the operation that afternoon, and I didn't want to leave him unattended. But he was making an effort. I was confused and I was sure it wasn't safe, until I my lips curled into a smile knowingly.

"Is that an order, or are you telling me as a friend?"

Genos sighed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Whatever answer he gave, he knew I would tease him about later, he just had to pick his poison. "I'm ordering you as a friend." I laughed. He scoffed lowly. "Go home. Get some sleep."

As funny as it was to me, I was still worried. "Look, are you absolutely sure about Haf taking care of things? I don't want you to be alone."

He looked at me questioningly. "I'm not alone. Doctor Kuseno is still here."

Ah, yes. How could I forget the good doctor who sometimes slept here despite now having a house of his own, and not to mention was probably taking a nap right now?

"Still…"

" _I do have the numerous contingency plans you've installed into my software for Mr. Genos, or have you forgotten?_ " There was a tone in Haf's voice that I was not pleased with.

"Don't you get cheeky with my now!" I scolded the ceiling with an accusing finger stretched out, avoiding the gaze Genos was sending me. My cheeks were becoming flushed again. I sighed, trying not to let it get to me too much. "Fine! Fine. I'll leave you two to bond or whatever." I walked from my desk and placed my large suitcase where it was before. I contemplated taking my two briefcases home before deciding it wasn't worth it. My arms were sluggish anyways.

Approaching the exit, I yelled out, "Alright, I'm gonna head out now! Stay safe and have a goodnight!" My foot, not even halfway through the doorway, I heard my name being called out by Genos.

Suddenly, something was being thrown at me, and I fumbled a few moments before finding out what it was. In my hands was the small blue plasma gun I kept hidden under my desk just in case the facility ever got attacked. Thankfully, I never had to use it before.

Genos stood a few feet in front of me. "You stay safe too," he said before presumably stalking off into his repair room again.

"I… yeah…" I nodded dumbly. He had already left.

That night, much to my relief, I never had to use my gun, and I got home without any complications. Even so, I left my gun underneath my pillows, and as I felt my eyes grow heavier with each passing moment, I whispered to no one in particular, "Stay safe…"

* * *

 ** _Niiza carrot udon :_ noodles kneaded with carrot, and are characterized by their vivid orange colour. I chose this type of udon specifically because it is one of the four main udons served in the Saitama Prefecture of which One Punch Man's setting is based off of, and is well known for their udon. The more you know.**

 **I'm not actually sure if udon serving sizes are as large as phở sizes, but it's the only thing I can really compare it to. I've never had any Japanese noodle broths. Only Chinese, Malay and Vietnamese, so feel free to correct me on udon if you know anything about it.**

 **Jeeze! I am so sorry it took so long to update! Like two months! I almost never take that long to update! Real life just caught up to me all at once, and I had so many tests and assignments to worry about! This chapter isn't even as long as I'd like it to be either! But content wise, I suppose I'm kind of satisfied. I'll try to make the next chapter longer and hopefully come in a smaller period of time!**

 **Sometimes it's funny to mess with Jade through Genos too, what with the way he said that she could have potentially interrupted Saitama's digestive system. Fun. I also added the ten percent theory in there because it was originally my theory on Saitama's strength and I felt it had some sort of place there. It's kind of similar to the webcomic's explanation for his power, what with limits, so I was overjoyed when I read it! That being said, if you haven't read the webcomic or manga, then I implore you to do so!**

 **Moving on to reviews…**

 **typinbeat:** I swear, the site will not let me write out your name unless I take out the dot. It was really confusing the first time when I tried to reply to you. Yonten, with him I plan to make him someone who loves to help anyone but also causes trouble, whether it be knowingly or unknowingly. Truthfully, during the fight I also felt something was lacking, but I didn't know what, so thank you for pointing it out. I wouldn't say it's so much as Genos getting emotionless, but he sort of has a one track mind concerning strength, and that sometimes conflicts with his relationship with Jade. Not to mention she loves to annoy him to no end, and it gets tiring after a while. I'll try to make him seem less emotionless in future chapters! Thanks for your input!

 **FantaPanda:** Hey, thanks! I don't know if that final moment will necessarily be awkward, but certainly conflicting! And I do read the webcomic! I'm certainly interested in the new arc, but if I were trying to fit this story into the webcomic cannon, then I would say what I have in mind is more of a prelude, I suppose, so hopefully that'll turn out well! It took me so long to update to that it's been two months since Easter… I hope you had a good one! Thanks again!

 **Bob (Guest):** Honestly I try not to take criticism to heart, but they are important if I ever want to improve. At first when I started fanfcition writing it wasn't as easy as it is for me now, and I'm kind of ashamed for acting so badly towards negative feedback so badly before, but I am glad that I've improved in that sense. And I appreciate the time you must take to write your reviews! As much as I may be stroking your ego by replying to you in the author's notes, you're certainly stroking mine with your reviews! They're well thought out, and they've helped me a lot! Considering the "physics" in this story, I'm no physicist, in fact I'm an ever improving art person, but I do endeavor to do more research for this fic, especially since you've pointed out my flaws.

The moment with Jade skipping out the part with Genos's and Saitama's conversation was just a plot device to keep from rehashing their whole conversation. We've already watched and/or read the story itself, so I figured skipping a few parts from cannon wouldn't be out of the question. :P

Yonten himself is actually based off another anime character who isn't that much dissimilar from him, but I'd applaud you if you found out who Yonten was based off of. I'll give you a clue! His name starts with an M! Not entirely based, mind you, but from memory of my childhood, so they won't be the same characters! Good luck if you actually do try to find out who it is!

I'll keep Saitama's characterization in mind. I intend to write him, and I don't want to botch his character too horribly, so I appreciate the warning! Thanks again, and sorry for making you wait so long for this one!

* * *

 **Extra: In which Saitama gets a list**

Saitama was bored.

Of course, this was a normal occurrence with him, but he was just so bored.

He wouldn't even have minded if there was a monster attack soon. It was dull, even if he had fought Genos yesterday. He wasn't able to go all out; he didn't aim to kill the guy after all! No, Genos just wanted to spar, so he gave him something. And when Genos had asked that he attack him with all his strength, he had still been holding back. Maybe not as much as he should have, but it still got the cyborg to take a step back and get udon.

Saitama frowned. Speaking of udon… Genos's mechanic, J-Jason? No wait, that was someone else. It was definitely something with a J in it. It was a colour, right? Oh, right, Jade! She expected pretty highly of him, kind of like how Genos did. She said something about mental training, didn't she?

He sighed. He didn't even know much about that, but if it was what was going to get both the mechanic and the cyborg off his back, then he'd give.

In a lazy fashion, Saitama decided to get his morning on with by turning on his television and brushing his teeth. As he rinsed out his teeth, he noted the lack of monster activity. It really had been a dull week so far.

Entering his kitchenette, he was still feeling kind of weary, so he made himself some coffee.

Saitama went on to go on his laptop, checking his e-mail and the sort. His inbox was filled with a bunch of junk mail, spam, things he didn't really care about. It was the e-mail near the bottom of his list of new mail that he found interesting. There wasn't much of a real address to it, but he did see the name, Valles Jade. She had said something about sending him something, hadn't she?

At the subject of the e-mail, he remembered.

"Genos's list of problems," it read.

Saitama clicked on it, and he had to physically keep himself from spraying his monitor with his drink. This was crazy! He scrolled down, but there was no end in sight! There was no way he was going to be able to get through all this, he'd be going gray by the time he was finished with it! You wouldn't be going gray, you don't have any hair, a voice in the corner of his mind told him. Shut up, he replied hotly.

Still, he checked the first few points to see if any of them would actually prove useful.

 _1\. Is careless with himself (he ruins all my hard work!)_

 _2\. Literally announces to his enemies what he'll do. "Stay still, I'm going to eliminate you." Like! Why would you say that?_

 _3\. Will consider self destructing if the situation is dire (I know he thinks it's for the best, but it's not worth it, I don't think)_

There were a few more of the like, and some of them were even kind of funny that when he read them over, Saitama thought Jade was sharing an embarrassing story with him instead of a list of things he should teach. Numbers fifteen and twenty were his personal favourites.

 _15\. Is a disrespectful little shit when he doesn't know better (but won't be one to you, because he WILL know better)_

It was crossed through, but it was still eligible.

 _20\. Fought someone when he was shopping with me. I only wanted to get one type of metal from a supplier when he decided to go off and look at the other wares and insulted the shopkeep for lack of organization and quality. I did not end up with my metal._

He cracked a small smile at that one. Genos was kind of weird, huh? So was Jade if this was how she made her list.

Well, Saitama thought leaning back in his chair with a thoughtful expression, I guess I might be able to come up with something.

And he was going to think of a plan… Until he was distracted by a new online flier filled with products more than twenty five percent off.

* * *

 **I tried writing Saitama. I TRIED. It's weird and I'm not satisfied with it, but please do tell me what you think!**

 **Reviews are love and motivation!**


	8. In Plain Sight

" _To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." - Theodore Roosevelt_

* * *

The summer sun was blazing down into the windows, the light glaring onto the computer screen and bouncing back onto my face. I squinted and turned up the brightness, but the light out the window was beginning to annoy me from the corner of my eyes. I sighed, getting up from my chair to turn down my blinds. Getting back to my desk, I took off my sweater, and wiped my forehead, feeling the amount of sweat which had accumulated there. It was too hot.

I stood in the middle of my apartment, turning my head to look at the video of Genos and Saitama's fight. It was playing that moment again, the point where Saitama had thrown the last punch. Where worry and adrenaline once consumed me in that moment, was now replaced by a blank, empty feeling. I had watched the same video more than ten times already; two from each drone's different perspective.

I was tired, and I simply couldn't see myself completing the fight's analysis today. I needed a break, at least for a few hours. I didn't want to disappoint him, and I knew I wanted to get this done as soon as possible, but I had to at least message Genos, to let him know it wouldn't be done until the day after.

As I opened up my phone, my eyes slid across the date, and I felt myself grow lethargic. I really couldn't bring myself to do any work. Not today.

I decided to call Genos, feeling it'd be better to say over phone than text. It rang once, and he picked up.

" _Yes?"_ Not a 'hello.' Through his flat tone of voice I could tell exactly what he was thinking. ' _I know Jade's my best friend and all, and yeah, maybe she does deserve some time to herself, after all I can be a big idiot who destroys her every piece of hard work, but I'm feeling a very particular kind of meanness today, so I'm not going to dignify her with a hello.'_ What a guy.

"Hey," I spoke softly, crossing my arm over my chest. There was no need in getting worked up; I was mad at myself, not him. "I won't be able to go over the footage of your fight with Saitama today. I just… I'm not feeling well…" There was something in my voice somewhere that was cracking, and my eyes were moistening at the edges of my vision. I hated it.

There was a small silence, and nothing came through the receiver. I began to worry he had hung up. His voice came back on again, and with it was my relief he was still there. " _It's fine,"_ he assured. In a lower tone he added, " _it's their anniversary, isn't it?"_ My lips curled inwards, and I tried to keep my sharp intake of breath away from my phone. From Genos's purposeful lack of reaction, I assumed I had failed.

"Yeah," I murmured through the hitches in my breath, "it is." I ran a hand through my hair tiredly, not caring if I messed it up. "Look, I can't— I don't think I can do any work today, I can't bring myself to. Everything about today feels bad somehow…" There wasn't any other way to describe it. My mind was taxed, my body ached… All I wanted was a break from the world, no matter how small.

" _Alright,"_ his voice echoed through the speaker and became blurry to my ears, drowned out by my own mind. " _Do you need anything?"_ He had asked it so caringly, I couldn't help but wonder if he had Haf say it for him instead. It was more than I could possibly ask for.

"No," I forced a laugh, "I'll be okay on my own for now." There was a slight hesitation in what I added. "I— but if I do need anything, I can call you, right?" I was conflicted about asking him. I knew I could have had need of reassurance, I seemed to need that a lot more often, but I didn't want to cause him any trouble.

" _...Yeah."_

I smiled softly. "Thanks. I appreciate it." There was a warm feeling in my chest, and no matter how little the gesture and offer was, it was nice. "Hey, are your arms doing okay? I didn't get to take a look at them myself, but are you okay with Haf?"

" _The process went smoothly, and nothing went wrong. Movement feels fluid and blasts feel as though they come by more easily. Large scale attacks are much more accommodating, and consecutive attacks are faster by .4%. I've written down more of the changes I have noticed in a notebook as per your request. Overall, I can feel a difference from Haf's work than that of yours or Doctor Kuseno's."_ He was going on a tangent again. I felt like I hadn't heard one in years, and it was so welcome.

I laughed, a real one this time. "Wow, you don't have to go rubbing it in you know. Haf's cheeky enough as is! I really don't want a problem child on my hands." Haf was well meaning most of the times, and most of the times it was very helpful. What wasn't helpful was pointing out the obvious and the tone they insisted on using with me.

He hummed over the line, " _I'll let Haf know you're disappointed in them."_

"Noooo," I complained jokingly. "Haf's sensitive, don't hurt them!"

" _I concur, Miss Valles."_ Haf's voice came over from my computer, and I heard Genos scoff softly. I began to chuckle under my breath, trying not to be too loud in doing so.

I let out a long, calming breath. "In any case, since you tested out your blasts, does the training room need any improving or repairing?" The training room was made by the good doctor and me back when Genos's aggressions weren't dealt with very healthily. The room contained high level combat centered bots and simulated environments, which I normally had to fix the majority of the time. For every gripe I had for every time I had to work on it if Doctor Kuseno didn't, I found it was always worth it in the end. Any way I could help Genos, I'd take it.

" _I thought you weren't going to work today?"_ He asked.

It wasn't intended to be malicious, I understood that. It was only curiosity, validation to confusion, and yet, to be reminded of how I really was, of what day it happened to be… My smile dropped. I rubbed at my arm, the bad sentiments creeping down my back once again. "Y-yeah…! Yeah, you're right, I wouldn't today of all days! I just— I thought I'd fix it up another time, not-not as if it required any immediate attention…"

Realizing his momentary mistake, he began again, " _Jade—"_

"Don't!" I bit frantically. Realizing I had said it so loudly and rudely, I coughed in an attempt to regain my composure. "You didn't mean it, I get it, I just don't want to talk about it..." I grimaced. I had made things uncomfortable and incredibly uneasy. I needed to get out of this quickly. "I-I'll probably be away for the day, so I'll try to get back to you tomorrow or something. I'll shoot you a text to let you know when I get back. See you."

I heard him sigh, furthering the disappointment I had in myself. " _Yeah, I'll see you later."_ The call ended.

I groaned, pressing my hand against my face angrily. I screwed up, I let it get to me and I gave Genos a hard time as a result. My head turned slowly to my phone screen, and my emotions grew even more heated. I harshly turned and threw my phone on my couch, watching it bounce down until it laid flat. "Damn it!" I cried, grasping at the sides of my hair. I seethed through my teeth. Why did it have to be today? Why now?!

In the background, the audio from the fight continued to loop, Genos's grunts and shouts going on and on. " _Incinerate,"_ he exclaimed, the blast being more than giant, Saitama dodged and tapped his shoulder, and the blond cyborg went for another strike. And then it went on with him requesting his sensei not to go easy on him, the godlike amount of rushing wind going into the bug, then it repeated, on and on and on.

"Damn it…" I murmured, slowly lowering my hands back to my sides. I turned towards my computers, and dragged my feet there, turning the volume to a near zero, saving what little progress I made in a document (it was just the title and the word 'the'), and turned my monitor screen off. I didn't want to think about it anymore. I went to pick my phone up, and checked it to make sure I hadn't seriously broken anything. Luckily I didn't, or at least nothing that I could see.

I walked into my bedroom, and looked around. Compared to Genos's minimalist and empty room in the facility, I must have looked like a hoarder. I had clothes strewn from side to side, and on each dresser and cabinet, there were small knick knacks and items. I moved to one of them, a short wooden dresser, and picked up one of the two picture frames which were on it. I examined it, resent bubbling in the pits of my stomach. I laid it down, the picture facing wood.

Meanwhile, the second frame I kept upright, giving it a half hearted tender sort of gaze. It was the three of us, Doctor Kuseno, Genos, and me. The doctor and I were grinning for all we were worth, I was holding up a peace sign, and the resident cyborg had his mechanical arms crossed with an amused yet exasperated expression on his face. It wasn't taken too long after he defeated his first monster. I remembered I had jumped on him when he came back, almost wringing him excitedly.

" _Genos, you did great! Amazing job out there!" My enthusiastic teenage self exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck like a python._

" _Jade, get off of me." He said monotonously, though likely irked she had caught him off guard so easily while he had killed a giant mutated giraffe only moments earlier._

" _Come on!" She ignored his earlier statement, and instead dragged him further into the facility. At a point she got behind him and covered his eyes as if he couldn't see through them. It wasn't that she hadn't known, it was simply the principle of it._

 _She stopped and uncovered them, revealing Doctor Kuseno, banners, streamers, and a large cake. The banner which had obviously once said 'Happy Birthday,' was crossed out with black paint, and in large blue lettering read, 'Congratulations, Genos!'_

I looked back on the memory fondly.

I began to pick up some of the clothes I left on the ground and threw those which were dirty in my hamper, reminding myself laundry day was soon. With my bedroom somewhat neat and tidy, I began to change into somewhat more formal attire than my normal casual wear.

By the time I was done, I decided I almost looked professional, which for me was quite a strange notion in of itself. I rested my hand on my dresser while peering into a mirror, and felt cool metal beneath it. It was a thin linked chain. A necklace, an old one. Gold. It wasn't worth much in terms of monetary value, but it was priceless. Even if only for the day, I put it on as well. It had been a family heirloom, and I supposed I wanted to look better than my Sunday best.

I passed through my apartment a few more times to make sure everything would be okay while I was gone. The oven was off, the tap wasn't running, but as I checked my room for the nth time, I remembered the small lump beneath my pillow. The plasma gun. A part of me desperately wanted to bring it with me, yet I couldn't possibly fathom why. The trip was going to be relatively far since it was in the countryside rather than the big cities, so there wasn't harm in it, I supposed.

As I was about to come up with another reason as to why I shouldn't carry a very dangerous self manufactured firearm on my person, I was recalled to the fact I wouldn't even be able to conceal it. I grabbed a coat and stuffed it in an inside pocket.

The point I exited and locked my door was the same moment I began to second guess. Not the gun that was, I was entirely sold on it already, after all I needed something to stay safe against mysterious beings. I was second guessing going. It'd been some time since I'd last visited, and they probably wouldn't be very welcoming to my presence. I couldn't imagine it going down well.

"Hello Jade, are you doing okay?" I was reminded I had a resident monk on my hands, and with his tentative tone, he seemed to sense my uneasiness, like it was rolling off of me in waves. Or maybe he heard me. The walls in the building were thin.

"Hey Yonten," I said, turning to him with a sheepish smile. Like me, he was standing outside of his door, his red and orange, loose robes on, with gauze wrapped around his hands and arms. On his back were a pair of hooks, curved, sharp, silver, and intimidating. I looked down at my feet, knowing I wouldn't be able to lie to him, "honestly, I don't think I am."

He pressed his lips together in a thin line, as if he was unsure about what to say, then he suddenly burst with a very toothy grin, boisterously laughing from the depths of his diaphragm from out of nowhere. It wasn't much of a real laugh either. It was stale, strained, silly even. It was a chortle, loud and ugly, but it wasn't that he was reacting to something terribly hilarious. It seemed more like laughing for the sake of laughing. Out of the sheer uncomfortableness and absurdity it provided, I began to chuckle. And it grew louder and more real with each passing moment.

After a good minute of a cackle collection, it died down, and Yonten had a hand on his hip, asking, "do you feel any better? Even a bit?"

I didn't know how to answer. Was his method strange? Yes. Weird? Absolutely! Bad? No, it was different. Never in my life had I been comforted by someone laughing uncontrollably. I decided on shrugging. "I… suppose I do," he grinned. "I don't really understand what you did, but it helped." Yonten was a paradox. At one moment I thought I understood him, but he proved to catch me completely off guard. He was ambiguous, and I didn't know if I much liked it.

"Inner turmoil isn't something which can be resolved by words alone. It takes years until you can say you've been fully taken care of, and even then, there are still going to be scars, and small reminders. If I can help lighten the load greatly with small and silly actions now instead of petty words later, then I think I've done something to help." He cleared his throat. "I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I don't have the necessary words to make you feel any better. The only thing I can do is laugh until you laugh right along with me."

"Wow," I breathed, "you really know how to preach, huh?"

"Yes!" Yonten chuckled, nodding. "There were many times where my brothers were very strict and hard on themselves, and they ended up neglecting their own well beings. That happened to include their own spiritual enlightenment, so I often had to show them what they were doing wrong." In a tone I struggled to hear, he added, "though it wasn't as if they took advice from a runt like me…"

I recognized that in his attempt to cheer me up, he went into a subject that upset him. Knowing the change in his appearance and the weapons on his back must have meant something, I decided to change the subject. "So, what's up with the bandages on your arms? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" There certainly wasn't anything wrong with them back at the hero examination.

Noticing the shift, he perked up like a dog hearing the word 'walk.' "Oh, these?" He lifted his hands, palms facing the ceiling, stretching his wrists. "They're so I don't strain any of my muscles too badly while I'm using my weapons." He pulled the twin hooks from his back, crossing them over each other to show them to me. "These blades are called hook swords, mostly used for self defense and peacekeeping. I figure a hero's most basic responsibility is keeping the peace with the people, so I'm sure hook swords will work well as primary weapons."

"Well, Mr. Hero," I said, spreading my arms out, "you really ought to check the building's policy on your swords. You don't know what the landlord will do unless he catches you." I hoped to any god out there Mr. Oro never found out about the weapons and firearms I had with me.

Yonten replaced his twin hooks on his back, giving a wide grin. "I suppose I should, although I might _forget_." His emphasis on 'forget' told me he probably wasn't going to tell our landlord anytime soon, something I could say I respected. He took a deep breath. "Well, I should do some patrolling. I want to test my mettle against actual monsters in order to prove my utility in the field." Amicably, he waved, and began to speak in a tone he probably thought was suave. "Goodbye then, Jade! Maybe if I see you out there, I'll end up saving you!"

I wouldn't count on it too much, I thought, waving right back at him. As he left the building, I knew I'd have to go soon too. Going from the city to the countryside wasn't a short ride. It'd take a few hours at least, and I still needed to get there before dark. I contemplated taking Jason's armour if only to get there faster, but I decided to get there by car instead. I had one under repair in the garage I rented monthly. There wasn't much left to fix, maybe the ignition system needed a bit more work, though nothing which required extensive attention.

I jogged down the stairs, opening up the door to the garage, and found the secluded space where my car was. It was a humble little hatchback, racing red in colour, compact sizing, and a simple two seater. I hoped once I was finished with restoration, I could try to customize it with more advanced technology and other sorts of systems. It was a good side project if I wasn't working on anything else.

I grabbed the oil and grease stained rag off of the hood and threw it on one of the tables, while I also grabbed my keys. Opening the door and inserting the keys in the ignition, the engine purred healthily. Not in perfect condition, but certainly working better than expected. The door opened, and I drove out.

With each passing kilometre, as the distance between me and my apartment building grew further and further apart, more weights began to tie themselves to my heart. My mind grew more murky and depressed. Without friends, without Yonten to laugh with or Genos to vent to, the full extent of my mourning was eating away at me.

The sun, which had been a constant reminder of the everlasting scorching heat and my lack of motivation to work, was being hidden by dark grey clouds. A small victory for me at least, it meant I wouldn't die in the heat of the country.

Minutes became days, even as I was driving, though through it all, I looked at the changing scenery. The difference was obviously drastic, with industrialization and a lack of it. Most of the buildings in the cities were tall skyscrapers, and as you left them, the skyscrapers were shorter until they weren't even existent. There was more room for nature to grow, and the grass was definitely greener on the other side.

The sky also looked cleaner. With all the work houses and plants, especially the ones operating in City Q and light pollution, the was a clear contrast between the city and country skies. There might have even been a slight difference in cloud composure, but without a test for acid rain, one wouldn't know for sure. It was comforting to know how much more environmentally friendly things were.

By the time I heard asphalt crumbling underneath my tires, I knew I was where I needed to be. I found a little place to park at the edge where the gravel and the grass met. Getting out of my car, I glumly noticed by the black metal fences were more of them, one of them a hearse. I frowned, looking over the fence to see a large family, all dressed in black over an open grave. I sighed dejectedly. The graveyard was occupied then, and I wasn't about to walk in. That would've been disrespectful to them, and my parents.

Annually, I went back to the graves where my parents' ashes were buried. It was always on this day I became noticeably more agitated and pessimistic. The first time the resident cyborg had noticed me acting so different than normal, he didn't seem very concerned, not until it got worse. This time, when he tried to reach out to help, I pushed him away. Like I always did.

And this time, it didn't look like I'd be able to speak to my parents. I assumed what was happening was a funeral, and I didn't know if I wanted to wait until it was over, in which case it also seemed disrespectful, or if I just had to visit another day. I weighed my options, and even though I had traveled for more than an hour without fulfilling my desire, I decided I'd just leave. It was better than loitering around the entrance of a cemetery.

With great despondency, I got back into my car and made my way to drive back home. Who knew, maybe I'd find it in myself to do that analysis after all? And yet, I was still shameful. The painted yellow and white lines on the paved roads were taunting me, telling me I was too much of a coward to actually walk in by that group of people, and I began to think I should have gone in, said hi to my parents, and left. Instead I ran.

Suddenly, a blur moved in front of my vision on the road, and erratically, I slammed my foot on the break, car lurching hard, and breathing picking up significantly. I tried to calm myself down. It was probably just a squirrel, maybe a cat, or I was just seeing things; people did tend to mention I was looking more like the mad scientist type of person every once in awhile. But no. This blur was bigger than a stray cat, it looked more than eight times one's size.

I looked in my rear view mirrors, maybe I could catch a glimpse of it. My eyes widened, and my breath was lost on me.

There were only a few thoughts which dawned on me when I looked.

Round.

Brown.

Sharp quills.

And a lot of them.

It was a porcupine. A giant human porcupine monster thing was running down the road. There wasn't any other thing that way except for the cemetery. There was a family there. A mourning one.

I could ignore it. I didn't know them, they didn't know me. I hadn't even seen any of their faces. My fists grew tighter by my sides. There wasn't a reason for me to go back, so why was I thinking of going?! I wasn't a hero! Jade wasn't a hero, Jason was!

…

I was a crazy idiot. I had to be, otherwise I wouldn't have been so stupid to think Jade and Jason were different people. And I wouldn't have done it.

I still had time to make it back to that graveyard. Any heroes deployed by the Heroes' Association wouldn't. Even if I tried to call Genos or maybe even Yonten, they wouldn't make it in time. Besides, this was out of any Cities' jurisdiction. I was the only one who knew a family had the possibility of being slaughtered.

I floored it, making a wide U-turn, and swerving my vehicle to right myself on the path. My muffler had basically decided to stop functioning, for the soft purrs which had been the sign of my engine's vitality, transformed into the full on mini explosions they actually were. You could hear me coming from a mile away.

I quickly set the hatchback in park again, tumbling through the door without an ounce of grace. I held myself, using the roof to do so, and I struggled to keep from falling. My legs were about to collapse. Through the bars of the fence, the porcupine monster was holding three people, threatening to crush them in his arms. They were two young boys and their mother.

Before I knew it, I was running. My feet were moving on their own. I jumped the fence, grabbing the plasma gun from my jacket, turned off the safety, and shot once at the monster's leg. I almost missed. I could have shot one of the boy's feet.

"Son of a bitch!" The monster swore in a deep, throaty, reverberating voice, like phlegm was caught in the middle of his throat. He was more than twice my size, deep brown fur and white quills covering his body, while his eyes were beady and black. Funnily enough, his arms and legs were human and muscle ridden. The rest of him was quills and fur.

He grabbed his knee in pain, dropping his three hostages in the process. The mother fell flat on her face, struggling to lift herself up. Her sons scrambled to grab her arms, and managed to get out of the way. The rest of the people from the funeral were standing to the side, too petrified to move.

"Get out of here!" I yelled, waving my arm over to the gate. As if woken from a collective trance, the people screamed and rushed, pushing each other to be the first out the doors. Glare set firmly on my face, I turned back to the monster, gun trained on him.

"Do you know what you've just done?!" He bellowed angrily. "Do you know who I am?!"

I laughed nervously, putting on a fake bravado. "Sorry, I don't. Do you wanna tell me, maybe? I'd love to know your backstory." I had to stall for time, everyone needed to get away as soon as possible, and I didn't think time would be very generous to me. And the monster, whether I liked to admit it or not, was incredibly intimidating. He looked like he could snap me in half easily.

"That was a family of taxidermists!" He growled, as if to garner sympathy. I wasn't able to say it was working. "I loathe taxidermists with every fiber of my being! It was because of them my beloved pet porcupine, Chobi was killed… and made into a mere head mount…!" He began to weep, tears flowing down his face like a waterfall. He pawed at his eyes with his large hands, and cried harder.

I didn't know whether or not he was truly a threat, but I wasn't letting my guard down.

"And now," he sniffed loudly, "because of the love and revenge I desire for Chobi, I've become _this,_ " he gestured to himself like it was something to be proud of, like turning into a _monster_ was something to be proud of. "I am Yamapoprick!" I snorted. You sure are. "So why don't you just put down that little pea shooter of yours and let me finish those bastards off?" He was smug and arrogant, grinning at me like I'd be doing him a great favour. He was underestimating me.

I looked behind myself just for a brief moment to see if everyone had escaped during his rambling, when my body was slammed into a tombstone. I choked, any breath I had left in my body leaving me, pain wracking my front and back. There were quills sticking out all over my body, most prominently on my arms and front. It was like getting a needle, but the nurse applying it was sadistic and very stab happy.

I heard him cackle. "Now stay out of my way!"

I wasn't prepared for this. I was being too rash. My gun only had six plasma cartridges, and I already used one on his knee. My head fell to the side, and I noticed a vague limp as he trudged slowly away. But I could still do something.

My gun had dropped right beside me, and weakly, I grasped for it. Five more cartridges left. I had to be careful about each shot. My fingers curled around the grip, and I stood back up, my left side slumped ever so slightly. I shot at his back.

His hands went around him, and he yelled, turning around accusingly. "Leaving s-so soon…?" I goaded, smirk resting on my otherwise pain contorted face. He roared, causing my smirk to disappear.

Like a bull seeing red, Yamapoprick charged. It must have been some sort of tunnel vision, because while I was doing my best to get up and get out of the way, he thankfully missed, instead ramming into stone, causing it to crumble. If I got hit with another charge, I knew someone would break, and it wouldn't be him. I made note to avoid physical confrontation if possible.

As he recovered from his crash, I experimentally tugged at one of the quills in my arm. I cringed immediately. It was like a normal porcupine's; easy to insert, hard to take out. Microscopic barbs were a bitch.

Painfully, I lifted both of my arms and regretfully shot at the base of his neck. Four. I expected him to drop dead, but he got back up. He cursed again, but all the plasma seemed to leave was a burn. He was doing more damage to me than I was to him, that much was apparent.

"So you're some long ranged coward?" He spat, wiping the corner of his mouth.

"W-what can I say...?" I teased. "I don't like getting up close and personal w-with ugly monsters like you."

His quills abruptly flared, and I shockingly realized what he was about to do. I ran for cover, behind another tombstone. Out of nowhere, one of his quills pierced _stone_. Right next to my head. I stumbled back out of fear, and he his laugh was disgustingly wet and cold.

Frantically, I ran for my car, hiding behind it, and crouching low. I tried reaching for my phone, fumbling a few times. He was behind me, his laugh giving me a sense of how far away he was. It wasn't time to be stupidly brave anymore. I needed help, and I needed it now.

"Haf," I whispered, deciding this was the most scared I'd been in my life. Not even heights had me so afraid. "Haf, I-I need you to get me Genos as quick as possible, this is an e-emergency situation!" Without wasting a moment, Haf connected me to the line. Each passing tone had my heart pumping harder and harder until it felt like I could no longer move.

He picked up, though it did little to relieve me. " _Jade?"_

"Genos," I blubbered, feeling close to tears, "I'm at the cemetery and there's a mon-" I realized too late Yamapoprick had stopped laughing. There was the abrupt groaning of metal, and the shade I'd been under disappeared. "-ster…" I dropped my phone out of shock.

He began to chortle, loud and ugly, holding my hatchback over his head with his gross, muscular human arms. "You aren't calling for help, are you? I'd be mighty disappointed if you were, especially if it were a hero!" He hummed, resting a finger by his cheek, mockingly contemplative. "You know what, you go and call your, 'handsome' and 'mighty' hero," he leered dangerously, "it'll only make me all the more infamous." To make things worse, he threw my car away, sounding like it was breaking in its everything, where it landed on its side.

He was like a predator looking down on his prey. With each step he took towards me, I could only crawl back. My hands were pressed against the gravel, and through my phone, I barely heard Genos calling my name.

"What a nuisance," the monster snorted. In one quick movement, he crushed my phone with a giant foot.

My hand went over my mouth as I released a chilling breath. I crawled back as fast as I could, trying to pick myself up to run. As soon as I did, Yamapoprick picked me up by my hair, pain assaulting my scalp. I panicked. Crying out, I fired my gun, one, two, three times, and I was dropped, left sitting on my ass.

Trails of steam flew away from his chest, yet the only things left there to remind me of what I'd done were tiny burn marks, near invisible because of his dark fur.

It. Did. Nothing.

I wanted to seethe, I wanted to get upset, I wanted— I wanted to cry. I was so frustrated. I wasn't able to subdue one damn monster on my own. Was I that worthless?

His breathing was ragged, although I doubted it was because I hurt him. It was more of an angry sort of breath, heavy and thunderous. "You think that stupid pea shooter can do anything to me?! It can't! You know why? 'Cause you're trash! You're an insect!" He grabbed my gun and pointed the muzzle in his mouth, as if he wanted me to kill him. "A'll show ya, dis'll do nothin' ta me!"

I was shaken.

Insect… Trash… Was I this weak? Was I this bad? My hand curled into a tight fist. Was I doomed to always watch from the sidelines? To watch people die? But was I so pathetic that when I'd actually gone to protect others, I could barely protect myself?!

I squeezed my eyes shut and release my frustration with a wail. I took the shot.

Warm liquid ran down my head. I didn't dare open my eyes. I was overwhelmed. I didn't know what to do, confusion was the only thing running rampant in my mind. I began to sob. Left on the ground, wracked with pain, and emotionally overwhelmed, I sobbed.

* * *

 ** **Hey guys! It's been a very long few months for me, so I apologize for this chapter being so late. (Like three months! How bad is that!?) Hopefully, I'll have one more chapter up before the summer ends, but I suppose we'll see. But we have over 80 favourites and over 100 follows as of this chapter! I can't thank you guys enough, that's amazing! You guys are amazing!****

 **Yonten's hook swords are based off of actual Chinese hook swords and they actually go by some pretty cool names! Like the tiger head hook, or the shuang gou. They're primarily used by monks with self defence and warding off enemy attacks, so I felt like it'd be useful for monster control and buying time.**

 **With Yamapoprick and Jade, I was originally going to have a hero swoop in and save her, like Yonten or Genos, but then I thought, 'Jade's not really the typical damsel in distress,' so now she's just a damsel who is very distressed. Also it probably feels like a cop out to have him die so suddenly like that, so I'm just gonna say for the majority of the shots, the plasma wasn't on bare skin, it was his thick fur absorbing most of the damage. So when the plasma connected with the exposed muscle in his mouth, it went BOOM, dead. Like how he visibly limped when Jade shot his knee.**

 **Other than that, there's not really anything else about the chapter I want to address, but have any of you guys seen the dub of One Punch Man yet? I'm keeping up with it just because I'm curious, and I gotta say it's pretty okay. I'm kind of on the fence with Genos's voice, ironically enough.**

 **Reviews!**

 **RintinDestiny:** Thank you, you're so sweet! I'll see if I can better grasp onto Saitama's character, however. Honestly, I haven't thought that far through! I know I want to follow the anime, but I've used the manga as my resource more often than not. I don't want to get into the new manga arc until it's animated, but I don't want to wait until that is. My plan is either to end this story where the first season of the anime ended, or do a bunch of original chapters/arcs. It's undecided right now, but I'll figure it out sooner or later!

 **passion. love. life:** I'll try to update more, then! It'll definitely be something when they do get together! With Sweet Mask, you're pretty close to what I planned to do, but not exact! If anything, there's more of Jason than Jade. And I'm glad you thought that was a sweet moment, thanks!

 **FantaPanda:** Thanks! Well, I do love to address people's questions or subjects, so I think I should be thanking you! Saitama is tough, but I'll figure it out one day. I'm glad you found that last bit humorous!

 **shadow-dog18:** I'm glad you have! Hopefully by now you've watched the anime and read the manga/webcomic! I feel like I'm moving too slowly to catch up to some of these reviews during the time they were actually posted! I really can't wait to fully develop Jade's character, it'll be fun to change her for better or for worse as times goes on. Thanks again!

 **And to everyone else who reviewed (DreamLightMin, Guest, Sad rad fish, Crystal Blue Butterfly, Lunar Loon, and 1Laure-Lo) thank you so much!**

* * *

 **Extra: In which after rain, earth hardens**

Doctor Kuseno knew his charges, and he knew them well. Jade, for all her troubles, was a smart and intuitive individual. He knew Genos, despite how aloof he tried to be, cared. Maybe not to those outside his circle, but he was loyal and devoted to a fault. But for all of his charges' positive characteristics and aspects, he could always name two negative ones. Jade was aggressive and careless, and Genos was rash and too selfless. Sometimes they made him wonder if it was anymore possible for his hair to go grey.

So when Genos came back to the facility after rushing out from a seemingly normal phone call, supporting a bleeding Jade who looked like a pincushion, Doctor Kuseno chided the both of them for worrying him.

Jade was sat up on a table where he could safely remove the large looking quills and disinfect the wounds, while Genos was outside the room, most likely pacing as he waited. He'd had to cut her jacket and shirt as the quills had gone through the fabrics.

As he finished taking out the last quill (there had been about 40 in total), he made sure none of the quills he removed broke off or left splinters. After that was done, he applied an antibiotic ointment to each wound. He'd have to monitor her for the next few days for possible infections, maybe get her a rabies vaccine (with human/animal monster hybrids, you could never be too sure).

As she groaned, rolling her shoulder, she asked him if there was any way to speed up the healing process. By this point, he supposed she was quite done with going through pain. Well, he'd said with a rustic smile, no one's found a surefire way to speed the organic human healing process, so it wouldn't hurt to develop one yourself. She returned his smile, then slowly and tenderly, as not to hurt herself, wrapped her arms around him.

It surprised him, her hug. In the four years he had worked with her, Jade had always been emotionally expressive, but it wasn't often she was so affectionate. Perhaps this third near death encounter had finally let it set in. In any case, he returned her hug. She was like family, after all.

She said her thanks, and although he opened his mouth to warn her, she got up and opened the door. Shirtless. With Genos right outside.

At first, Genos had looked concerned, ready to address any problems Jade might have had. As he noticed she was missing something however, his eyes seemingly rolled to the back of his head, and Doctor Kuseno swore he could hear the young cyborg overheat. Oh dear, he thought, that's not very good for his inner machinery.

Jade paused, and almost as slowly as possible, looked where Genos refused to. Maybe too calmly, she slammed the door on his nose, and grabbed the shirt the doctor was smugly offering. He sensed she knew he was about to say something snarky, so she stuck her tongue out at him like a child.

Moving to open the door once more, he heard her sigh, "whoo, let's try that again," and Genos still proved to be embarrassed as Jade told him to get over it.

As he worked to clean and sterilize his tools, with a small chuckle Doctor Kuseno wondered when the both of them would stop worrying him so much.

* * *

 **Again, if you guys have any questions, I'd be more than happy to oblige!**

 **Reviews are love and motivation!**


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